Taal-Net St John School in Ferndale faces fines exceeding R20 000 and an order to halt operations immediately following a City of Johannesburg inspection that uncovered serious safety failures at its Kent Avenue premises.

The multi-department operation, carried out under the city’s high impact service delivery programme, saw officials from environmental health, town planning, emergency services and City Power visit the school on the same day.

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Environmental health officials issued three fines of R5 000 each as the school had no certificate of acceptability, its food premises did not meet health requirements, and it had no handwashing basin. Town planning added a further R5 000 fine for breaching the city’s land use scheme.

The most serious finding came from the city’s emergency management services. Inspectors said the school had no internal layout plan and had failed to service its firefighting equipment. They ordered the school to cease operations immediately.

An audio recording of the inspection, recorded by the Randburg Sun, captures a tense exchange between officials and school staff over the safety risks.

“My suggestion to the principal was that you evacuate your kids immediately from the premises,” one fire safety official can be heard saying. “Take them to a demarcated area until their parents can collect them today to ensure their safety. We have to treat the situation as if their lives are endangered at the moment, currently, as we speak.”

The official raised particular concern about the use of drywalling to separate classrooms, which he said broke fire safety regulations, adding that fires could easily move from one classroom to another and endanger the lives of children and staff.

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He also pointed to a fire escape route, supposed to take people from upstairs to downstairs as an emergency exit, but had been turned into a storeroom.

School principal Tanatsiwa Zishamba argued that learners were writing examinations at the time and asked for more time to comply, but the official was unmoved. “I understand your learners are in exams, but that’s not a concern,” he said. “Even though they are in exams, while writing the exams, they can lose their lives because of fires.”

Zishamba said work was already under way to meet the outstanding requirements. “We have done the zoning, we did the 28 days’ notice, we put it up here,” she said. “We are not perfect concerning all the requirements. We can’t say we are perfect, but all I am saying is we have done the processes.”

The inspection also found that the school owed City Power R36 000. The debt was paid on the day of the inspection and electricity was restored.

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