The department adds that the incident occurred on Wednesday and no arrests have been made yet. 

The department's spokesperson, Elias Malindi, says a library and the office of the deputy principal at George Madoda Primary School were also damaged by the fire. 

He says the cause of the fire is unknown at this stage.

Malindi further explains the four destroyed classrooms were used by grade 7 learners who recently returned to school after schools in the country closed their doors in March due to Covid-19. 

The fire comes amidst a wave of concerns over the reopening of schools across the country. 

Meanwhile, MEC for Education in the province, Mmaphefo Matsemela, condemned the incident and described it as a selfish act.

"Today (Wednesday), we woke up to a call by the fire department that one of our schools is on fire.  As it is, the country is phasing in learners back to school after a three-month break due to the coronavirus pandemic. This delay is a selfish act. We plead with the community to work with the department and report any leads to the local police," Matsemela said.

Meanwhile, some quarters of society, including learner movement and teachers unions, amongst others, heavily criticised the department and its Minister, Angie Motshekga, for reopening schools amidst the Covid-19 surge in the country.

The South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) General Secretary, Mugwena Maluleke, previously said that the union had conducted its own survey and found that seven provinces were not ready to resume classes.

The Congress of South African Students (Cosas), which recently removed learners from classrooms in the Free State, said the Department of Basic Education needs to go back to the drawing board and draw up new plans to ensure that learners are safe at school amid the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Cosas called for a massive screening in schools across the country, but MEC for Education in the Free State, Tate Makgoe, responded to Cosas' actions and said: "We don’t agree with Cosas' approach of disrupting our schools". 

In a Tweet, Makgoe further said it will be impossible to test every learner and teacher across schools. He further said that the country does have that capacity.

He is on Thursday, set to meet with the leadership of Cosas. "I am upbeat that together we will find an amicable solution to the current impasse," he adds.

OFM News