Maverick Citizen: Eastern Cape: Eastern Cape education department fails dismally after school fire

For six years, learners at Nombulelo Secondary School in Makhanda had to either relieve themselves on the school stairwell or risk using a bathroom with serious and dangerous fire damage. On Tuesday 12 November, as the school’s governing body finally turned to the courts for help, the Department of Education agreed to an order declaring its failure to assist as unconstitutional and compelling it to fix the bathroom within six months.

Msutwana said the boys’ bathroom was built on two floors, with 10 toilets and one long urinal on each floor. In 2013, the top floor was extensively damaged by a fire, but the bottom floor, though dangerous, still had to be used “out of necessity.” Msutwana added that tiles and guttering frequently fell off the top floor, endangering the safety of learners.

In 2015 the school was listed in a departmental memorandum as a “disaster school” and orders were given that it be fixed in that financial year. Nothing happened. A structural engineer arrived at the end of April to assess the building and stated that he was “appalled.” He said he would push for it to be rebuilt, but nothing happened.

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