Campaign against closures intensified

It is indeed a dark day for education and poor schools of the Western Cape that DA MEC Donald Grant rejected the pleas of children, parents, teachers, communities and even his own DA supporters by coldly steamrolling ahead with his set plan to close down their facilities. It flies in the face of public sentiment to keep the schools open and he must face the consequences in court and in the public arena.

On this sad day many victims are left disillusioned, broken-hearted and emotional as they lose their known environments and could be forced to go to other schools in an unknown area. Young children will lose their teachers and even siblings could be separated as some will have to go to different schools where they could be absorbed.

ANC Western Cape leader Marius Fransman says: "This is typical of the DA's war on poor where that party's uncaring heart is once more exposed as well as the undemocratic and highhanded dealings with poor people. The ANC's suspicion that this was a rubberstamping exercise has once more been confirmed. The fact that through the Save Our Schools (SOS) campaign seven schools escaped the net is each a victory, though bitter sweet. It was not because of Grant's goodwill, but because those reasons for intended closures were found to be wrong and baseless.

"The majority of schools still face the chop. Young children are forced to face uncertainty, poor parents are despondent as they have nowhere to turn to and communities loose facilities that served them over decades - not only as schools, but as community centres and places of worship. Thousands will bear the hurt and scar of this cut into the soul of our people.

"Now the SOS campaign will be intensified, including role-players such as Cosatu (with Sadtu), Equal Education, other parties and community organisations. These vulnerable communities must be assisted in their bid to keep the doors of learning open where they live. The ANC will support every community and organisation that now have no alternative but take the fight to the streets and our courts. We will actively campaign against this callous action in a democratic and legal way.

"The DA and the MEC are hiding behind the deep pockets of the taxpayer's money to fund expensive court battles, but the poor communities must join hands to do what is right and that is to oppose this unfair and unjust action as they are not merely pawns on a chessboard, but have rights too."

Last year Grant closed down 16 poor black and coloured schools and this year he targeted 27 more without a prior agreed schools plan or consulting communities before announcing his intentions to give these schools the chop.

Manufactured reasons where cited and erratic motivations given. Grant inflexibly refused to be approachable to the public.

The announcement could not have come at a worse time as it is the eve of the matric exams for 2012 (three secondary schools are affected), many uncertain people do not know where to pre-register their children and Grant still has to respond to the concerns communities expressed that will erode their meagre incomes.

"What is more telling is the fact that unviable and struggling white (former "Model C" schools) were not included in his irregular hunt. Instead Grant's sights were clearly set on only depriving poor black and coloured communities and that is utterly and inexcusably racist.

"The memories of the tragic Rheenendal bus tragedy a year ago which claimed 15 lives (14 were primary school learners - some were siblings) are still too fresh in our minds. These learners paid the price of a closed down school where they had to be transported to another school.

"Hundreds of learners must now be transported to other schools as it will be too far to walk to school. The majority of these schools are in remote areas and serve coloured Afrikaans speaking rural children from farming communities - of which the bulk is in the southern Cape region of Eden and a large number are on church land.

"Further to this the un-transparent department still sits on an audit report into the suspicious system of school transport that is hidden under a veil of secrecy as it is classified ‘confidential' and not made public for people to know what the true situation is.

"This shows that school closures are ill-considered where the so-called best interests of the children are presented as reason, but that it is not true. The best interests of learners are postulated, but it is all about budget cuts and not practically assisting the very poor and vulnerable working communities which are the cogs keeping the rural economy going," says Fransman.

The Western Cape ANC is at present focused to deal with the closure of school in this province and will not be detracted by issues raised by the DA in faraway areas.

Grant's legacy to the Western Cape will be the closure of schools against the wishes of communities. He should be replaced as this province deserves better, says the ANC.

The ANC maintains that the DA is at war with poor people as it is taking all sorts of aggressive actions against these vulnerable by evicting people, cutting off their services, punish them by taking away toilets in the saga in Makhaza and cause war-like standoffs with shootings in many areas such as Hangberg, Eerste River and Elsies River. The closure of poor black and coloured schools follows the trend of the poor being at the receiving end of DA high handedness.

Grant and his department were very unconvincing in many other instances during the past weeks. It must also be noted that the negotiations between Cosatu and the department were declared deadlocked, which opens the way for a legal general strike to be called.

"Clearly the department and Grant has messed up and painted themselves into a corner. It leaves no other way out, but to fight fire with fire and take them on in every possible way to protect the rights of our children and these poor communities," says the ANC leader.

The ANC demands that all letters of closure issued today be retracted within 24 hours and a new process started.

The ANC will nevertheless convene an urgent education summit with SOS and other partners together with education experts and parents soon to discuss the provision of education and other needs in the province, since this province does not have a comprehensive education provision plan. MEC Grant will also be invited to explain his ill-informed decision.

The seven schools that were saved are the secondary schools Zonnebloem Nest and Peakview as well as the primary schools Athwood (all three Metro Central), Bosplaas (Winelands), Nuhoop (West Coast), Rodewal and Wittedrift (Eden Karoo).

Statement issued by ANC Western Cape leader Marius Fransman, October 16 2012

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