UPDATE: Nokuthula LSEN School to be operational in next school term

The Gauteng Department of Education has denied that it is the one that is stalling the occupancy of the newly built Nokuthula LSEN School in Lyndhurst.

The school was officially opened in October last year by the Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, Gauteng Department of Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi and the MEC for Infrastructure Development, Jacob Mamabolo and to date, it is still not operational.

It also hosted the announcement of the Gauteng 2017 Matric results in January and people were given the impression that it would be operational at the beginning of the 2018 academic year, but this never happened.

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Democratic Alliance shadow MEC for education in Gauteng, Khume Ramulifho, visited the school on 1 March and found the school empty and with discrepancies and lack of maintenance. Following the visit, Ramulifho revealed that the total cost of the school was R300 million, as was published on the North Eastern Tribune website.

The DA leader also lambasted the department for taking too long to relocate children from the dilapidated facility in Marlboro into the new state-of-the-art facility in Lyndhurst.

According to Ramulifho, the reason for the delay is that the department is yet to submit their application for an occupancy certificate with the City of Johannesburg, long after the construction had been completed.

Responding to questions sent to them by Tribune, Steven Mabona, the spokesperson for the department, denied the costs of the new school and blamed the delay for the certificate on the City instead. “All requested documents to date have been submitted to the City,” said Mabona.

“The township establishment conditions have just been recently issued by the land use management section in the legal administration. Unfortunately, the delay is currently with the City of Johannesburg.”

In response to this, Poppy Louw, stakeholder relations at the City, said the City’s Department of Development Planning established that the Department of Infrastructure Development had outstanding requirements for the property of the school. She said this was after the province failed to follow the proper process in the construction of the building from the beginning of the project.

“Once the City was made aware of the construction, we duly notified officials from the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development of this, including the still outstanding building requirements.

“That said, we are working together to find an amicable solution that will not only fast-track the issuing of the occupation certificate but also ensure that the safety of anyone who may occupy the building is not put at risk,” said Louw.

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“We have reassured the provincial department that we are willing to work with them to achieve this.”

Mabona denied the announced cost, saying the final estimated figure for this school is about R240 million and not R300 million. He further confirmed to the Tribune that the school will be operational in the second school term.

“The department plans to relocate learners from the old Nokuthula LSEN to the new facility in the recess before the commencement of the second term [10 April to 22 June] in order not to disrupt teaching and learning,” he said.

Louw, however, said an occupation certificate will only be issued by the building inspector once they are satisfied that everything is in order following their final inspection.

Details: steven.mabona@gauteng.gov.za