Lesufi is the reason why 23 000 learners in Gauteng have not yet been placed at schools

29 October 2018

The MEC for Education in Gauteng, Panyaza Lesufi, is the reason why 23 000 learners in Gauteng have not yet been placed at schools for 2019.

Due to the fact that the MEC neglected to build enough schools in Gauteng, the province’s Department of Education has a crisis on hand. The FF Plus warned numerous times in the past that Gauteng education is heading for disaster as a result of this.

In 2015, the FF Plus cautioned that Gauteng education is a ticking time bomb as the MEC’s attention was not focused on doing his job. At the time, the MEC had tabled a report which indicated that the province had only 2 922 schools that had to accommodate 2,433,342 learners.

Apart from the 23 000 learners who have not yet been placed for 2019, there are also 21 094 learners who were removed from the Department of Education’s system because they “did not submit the relevant documentation”. Whether they can be accommodated will be determined at a later stage.

Last week, the FF Plus said that Lesufi’s new policy for schools will cause utter chaos in the province.

Lesufi’s newly proposed regulations have not even been passed as legislation on provincial level yet and already the chaos that the FF Plus warned against has broken out.

The FF Plus laments the fact that the MEC feels nothing for learners’ education or future and that he does not even want to take the time to ensure that all the learners are placed at schools. The FF Plus is of the opinion that the 21 094 learners cannot simply be pushed aside and that the MEC’s attitude towards these learners is callous.

Lesufi can in no way shift the blame for the latest crisis to anyone else’s shoulders – he is fully to blame. If he had built enough schools in the province over the last five years, this crisis would have been averted. But instead of doing his job as MEC properly and putting the interests of the learners first, he put his own personal interests first and tried to force his own political agenda on schools so as to further his career. And now 44 294 learners in the province are suffering as a result.

Lesufi’s self-centeredness is doing many learners harm by disrupting their education. It will ultimately bring about his own political downfall.

Issued by Philip van Staden, FF Plus MPL: Gauteng Legislature, 29 October 2018