It is a disgrace that 690 learners of Hantam High School in Calvinia today had to be sent home following safety concerns relating to the caving in of floors and the possibility of walls that may collapse, that have yet to be addressed by provincial government.

The Department of Labour initially declared the school unsafe in October 2021 whereby concessions were made to keep the school open to enable learners to complete the end of year examinations.

Engineers from Cape Town were contracted to start with the first phase of conducting assessments on all three buildings. All three buildings were found to be high risk.

Repair work was rolled over to the new year and at the start of 2022, a contractor was appointed to put up supports, as an interim measure. This saw the first term getting off to a late start.

The contractor was never paid in full by Public Works and phase two, which entailed the subsequent removal of the supports, has yet to be completed.

While infrastructure repairs remained in limbo, the Department of Labour has in the meantime done a follow-up inspection, once again finding the school structure to be unsafe. A subsequent meeting convened between the School Governing Body and the parents this morning saw both parties agreeing not to place the lives of the learners and teachers at risk. Hence, a decision was taken to close the school.

The situation is a stain on both the Departments of Education and Roads and Public Works, who have collectively failed learners, parents and teachers by continuing to place the lives of those entering Hantam High School at risk.

The MEC of Education is reportedly due to meet with the parents tomorrow. The DA will follow developments closely. We will engage with the department to push for a mitigation strategy to ensure that the learners can urgently be accommodated somewhere safe, to prevent schooling from being interrupted any further. We will also be insisting on accountability of the responsible officials in the errant departments, who have allowed a high-risk situation to continue, while failing to address critical infrastructure challenges at the school.

 

Issued by Gizella Opperman, MP - DA Northern Cape Constituency Head for Hantam-Karoo Hoogland