The eradication of mud schools; Promises after promises

Pic sourced

Thou­sands of learn­ers across the South Africa attend school in unsafe build­ings with inad­e­quate san­i­ta­tion, lim­ited access to water and insuf­fi­cient desks and chairs. The prob­lem is par­tic­u­larly pervasive in the East­ern Cape there are over 395 mud schools. These con­di­tions are a sys­tem­atic denial of the fun­da­men­tal rights to a basic edu­ca­tion, dig­nity, safety and secu­rity and equal­ity guar­an­teed by the South African Con­sti­tu­tion.

So many promises have been made and  broken about eradicating the mud school system:

1. In 2004, the then president Thabo Mbeki said: – "By the end of this year we shall ensure that there is no learner learning under a tree or mud school."

2. In 2006, Mkhangeli Matomela Education MEC in the Eastern Cape said – "I am confident we will eradicate mud schools in the next two financial years."

3. In 2007, - the then Education Minister Naledi Pandor said "50% of the mud schools will be rebuilt between 2007 and 2009."

4. In 2008, Mahlubandile Qwase said – "I plan to fast-tract the eradication of mud-schools in the 2010/2011 financial year."

5. In 2011 the current Minister of Education, Angie Motshekga said – "By 2014 we would have eradicated all mud schools in the Eastern Cape province."

6. In 2013, the minister also said – "By 2015, in terms of mud school we would have been done."

 

7. In his State of the Nation address last year, South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, promised that a total of 98 new schools would be completed by the end of March 2013. This never happened. 

8. “New schools have been built and continue to be built with special attention being given to the eradication of mud schools. 49 mud schools were replaced in 2012 and a total 101 is targeted in 2013.” -Gwede Mantashe, ANC SG. 

9. "The mud-structure eradication programme will see all mud structures replaced by permanent structures by the end of 2008."Former Eastern Cape premier, Nosimo Balindlela. 

10. “We had pledged to deliver 49 schools to the region by the end of March and we currently stand at 17 with 10 of them from the Libode district alone. The major reason for this shortfall has been the liquidation of one of the contractors who was building 12 schools and the termination of the contract for another,” Motshekga.

Current Education Minister (2009 - ). Pic sourced.

Promises after promises while the people who suffer the most are the innocent children. This issue cannot be afford to be delayed any longer. Action must be taken now.

"… a mea­sure of our human­ity is inex­tri­ca­bly related to how we treat our chil­dren. Apartheid tried to rob us of our human­ity. By con­demn­ing every black child to a life of depri­va­tion, they sought to deprive us of our dig­nity… Every­one involved in edu­ca­tion has a respon­si­bil­ity to restore the human­ity and dig­nity in the way we treat our chil­dren.” (Pro­fes­sor Kader Asmal, for­mer Min­is­ter of Edu­ca­tion, 2000)

Pic sourced

  Water and electricity are basic amenities essential for survival. A school without water is potentially life threatening. Furthermore, the Constitution recognises these as rights. It is unimaginable what a summer’s day is like in this school. Such levels of discomfort should not be experienced by children.