Millions spent to build a ‘white elephant’
The department of education spent R35 million to build a state-of-the-art school which remains unused two years after completion.
Alex Matlala
LIMPOPO – The department of education spent R35 million to build a state-of-the-art school which remains a white elephant two years after completion.
The school, Lebaka B Primary School was built between 2012 and 2013 to enrol pupils from Mohlabaneng and the surrounding villages from January 2014.
According to concerned residents who did not want to be named, school furniture worth almost R4 million was supplied to the school but just two months later, all the furniture was ruined by rain.
This included chairs, tables, kitchen furniture and appliances, cupboards and books.
Some of these items were allegedly stolen by people living in the area.
During a visit by CV last week, women and children had gone to the school with wheelbarrows to load paving bricks to use at their homes.
A man neighbouring the school, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told CV that stealing from the school was a normal, daily occurrence. He said most of those stealing from the school were youngsters who also used the school to have sex in, and there was also fighting.
Steven Maloabotsheba Sefofa, a community leader, activist, businessman and South Africa’s self-proclaimed ‘Kwasakwasa Dance King’, said the money could have been used to build 1 000 RDP houses in the area, drill more than 50 boreholes and construct tar roads. He said the village had over 20 child-headed families who would need a helping hand to prosper in life. He said the same village had about 50 families who had registered for free government houses and that women still walked long distances to fetch water at communal taps.
“This money could have been used to change the lives of the poorest of the poor flooding our village for the better. There was no need for another school because at the same time they were building this school, another school with the same status was built in the same village,” he said.
Education spokesperson, Dr Naledzani Rasila, said the department was currently involved in a legal dispute with the service provider. “We are still trying to resolve the matter so that the school could be handed over to the community for use. We have set aside R700 million to ensure that all schools in the province are in a good condition.
“These will include building new ones and refurbishing those that were damaged by storms. Most of these schools would be built in far-flung villages where there has been no school or where schools were far apart from each other,” Rasila said.
