Premier Sisi Ntombela says the completion of the schools located in the towns of Zastron, Bethlehem, Clocolan, Warden, Hertzogville, Botshabelo, Hoopstad and the city of Bloemfontein shows how important the speedy delivery of school infrastructure is to the provincial government. Ntombela warns contractors that action will be taken against those who do not meet the set completion dates.

This while parents at the Pholoho Special School in Bloemfontein are threatening to shut the school down when the new term resumes in over a week if they do not begin to see some major changes. 

The parents at the school see the rumoured outgoing principal, Joyce Thothela, as the root of the plethora of problems at the educational facility. Chief among these issues is a block of eight classes at the school - the ceilings of which are falling apart. 

One parent who has asked to remain anonymous out of fear of victimisation, says there was an incident when one of the above-mentioned classrooms collapsed during school time. No-one was injured, but the School Governing Body (SGB) asked Thothela to inform the Education Department about the matter and request mobile classrooms. 

This did not happen, prompting questions whether the principal even forwarded the request to the department. While parents see Thothela as the source of the problems at the school, including the infrastructural issues, the department’s spokesperson, Howard Ndaba, says the matters aren’t related at all. “The issue of infrastructure and the expulsion of the principal by the SGB are unrelated.”

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