Vosloorus’s first black-owned private school operating illegally

Celebration surrounding the first black-owned private school in Vosloorus may be short-lived as it has been revealed that the school is operating illegally.

Most amazing story of a sacrifice for the children:
A black woman built a private school for kids in Vosloorus https://t.co/8txRwuFL49

— Nathaniel.W.Wilson (@nathan3007) May 17, 2019

https://twitter.com/MandisaMashego/status/1129016678304702465

The Star reports that according to Gauteng department of education spokesperson Steve Mabona, The Ayanda Junior Academy has no licence as its registration application was declined in April last year.

“The process of registration takes 90 days when the application is compliant and because this school did not comply, they received a letter declining their application on April 13, 2018,” Mabona told the publication.

The school has been operating for over a year and has close to 250 students in grades R to 2, who pay between R1,450 and R1,750 in fees per month.

The owner of the school, Margery Tyobo, told the publication that her school’s application was declined because their occupation certificate had not been approved by the time they applied.

Ayanda Pre Primary School/Junior Academy, the first private school in #Vosloorus. It's probably the first of it's kind in a Township. 👌👌👌👌👌👌 pic.twitter.com/wHibglcazt

— Tempy Pusha (@Gert_LeNinja) May 14, 2019

“They wanted an occupational certificate to say the place is safe,” she said before adding that she had lodged her application long before construction on her school had begun.

In response to Mabona’s assertion that the school was risking the education of learners and financial exploitation of parents by continuing to operate with its current status, Tyobo said the parents at her school were aware of the fact that it was operating without a license.

A Vosloorus-based parent of a former learner at the school, Mpho Kgongoana, stated the contrary however, and said she found out that the school was not registered when she approached the department earlier this year.

@Lesufi Ayanda Junior Academy in Vosloorus, is an unregistered-double-story private school, running for 2years now according to your department. No occupational, health and safety standard certificates and registration
Mpho Kgongoana-0722852363

— happy Tshanga (@tshangah) February 7, 2019

Kgongoana’s child was kicked out on the first day of the 2019 school year because his mother didn’t pay a re-registration fee. She then approached the education department over the matter and said she was advised to take action against Tyobo.

“A gentleman [from the department] said ‘Go and find a lawyer and sue that woman. We have papers that say she was never supposed to even open the doors’. I was shocked.”

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