GROUNDUP: Rural Community in KZN wins 20-year battle for school

They have been fighting a battle for 20 years, but now there is an end in sight for a rural community in KwaZulu-Natal who have obtained a supervisory court order forcing education authorities to finally build them a secondary school, and to upgrade all other schools in the area.

The applicants were supported by AfriForum, who funded their case. The main respondents were the MEC for Education and the head of the provincial education department.handed down this week, Judge Vahed noted that the case went to the very heart of the fundamental rights of access to basic education guaranteed by the Constitution.

A grandfather said his Grade 9 grandson was one of 81 learners all squashed into one classroom at a school 15km away from his home. Statistics from three schools, which were presented to the court, showed that there were between 53 and 64 learners per classroom. In 2010 when they finally got the news they were waiting for, they were told that “physical planning” had been prioritised and construction would begin soon. The budget was set at R7-million and the chosen site identified.

In 2014, the department promised that a school, consisting of mobile classrooms, would open in January 2016. It was a “good start”, they believed. A task team was established to realise the project. The opening date was pushed to November that year.

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