Promosa Secondary School’s student governing body (SGB) went on the rampage last week, demanding that the school’s electricity is restored.
The J.B. Marks municipality had cut off the school’s electricity supply because it had not paid for its services. The school had been in the dark for two months.
Promosa Secondary and schools like Potchefstroom Secondary and others in Ikageng had no electricity.
Willie Maphosa, the council spokesperson says the municipality took action to recover the cost from all defaulting schools. ‘Like with any other defaulting clients, the schools were warned about the imminent action,’ he said.
‘We are aware that the provincial department of education has responded and provided some funds to assist the schools involved and ensure that the matric exams proceed without disturbance. The electricity supply has since been restored to all the schools that came forward to pay. As for the names of the schools involved and the amounts owed, we may not comment as this is privileged information between ourselves and our clients,’ he said.
A teacher at Promosa Secondary told the Herald that the NW Department of Education had not given the school any money to pay the electricity bills for the past three terms.
Elias Malindi, the spokesperson for the department, says they had intervened on behalf of the school and pleaded with the chief financial officer of the municipality.
‘The department and the SGB signed a letter to arrange payment and submitted it to the municipality.
‘We will continue to assist schools when there is a dispute over their meter readings,’ Malindi said.
https://www.citizen.co.za/potchefstroom-herald/54611/schools-ikageng-promosa-without-electricity/
