Torched schools last in line
'Those who torched their schools will have to wait. We will first attend those who come to us with genuine requests' premier Stanley Mathabatha.
LIMPOPO – SCHOOLS that were burnt down by the communities they served will be at the bottom of the list when it comes to rebuilding.
“Those who torched their schools will have to wait. We will first attend those who come to us with genuine requests, not those who burn their schools and then rush to the government for help,” these were premier Stanley Mathabatha’s words during an executive committee visit to Xitlakati village in Giyani on Friday.
Mathabatha told education acting MEC, Jerry Ndou to prioritise the upgrading of schools that had dilapidated infrastructure rather than rush to attend to the schools that were burnt down.
The premier was responding to several concerns raised by the community of Xitlakati village with regard to the status of schools in their area, some of which were said to be wheelchair unfriendly and needed to be modified to cater for disabled people.
Mathabatha further said the province would appoint a new education MEC before the end of this month. According to him, the reason the province had delayed the appointment was to show respect for the former MEC, Thembi Nwendamutswu, who passed away.
“As Africans, when a person dies you don’t rush to replace that person as if you were waiting for their death to replace them. We needed to wait a bit in respect of her before we could move on and appoint another MEC in her place,” he said.
Apart from this, the premier said another reason they had delayed the appointment was because the post was a crucial one and needed a person who was capable of taking the province further in terms of improving education.
“The department of education is a crucial department that has the biggest budget of the province, so when you appoint an MEC in that department you really have to work. You can’t just wake up and haphazardly say this person is the education MEC, you need to pick one of the best,” he said.
Mathabatha was presented with various locally made gifts, to thank him for visiting, after which he promised the pensioners of the village that his wife would visit them with the aim of establishing a community project. “When she comes here she will see what kind of project will be viable in this village,” he said.
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