Zwelakhe Msabe alleged that the organisation is due to hand over six recently built Grade R classrooms in Botshabelo and Thaba Nchu to the Free State Department of Education later this month. Msabe claimed KST would push ahead with this project despite a warning by an architect working on the project, who said there these classrooms had structural discrepancies. OFM News reported yesterday that Mbase claimed that members of these communities expressed concerns over the safety of learners and staff at these schools after the quality raised several red flags. OFM News’ Pulane Choane reports, however, that the Trust stated that these comments by Msabe are false and misleading.

In a written statement to OFM News, KST’s Kaya Nyati said that claims that these classrooms were due for handover were false as the Trust was currently concluding the occupation safety clearance with the Structural Engineers and these schools would not form part of the infrastructure launch on 25 and 26 February unless the engineers would issue a certificate of clearance. She furthermore also said the Trust has no record of the complaint made by one of its engineers that these said classrooms have discrepancies as stated by Msabe.

“To this effect, none of the schools have flagged any safety hazards,” Nyati said in her response. As Msabe made these allegations against the trust on Twitter, Nyati further attached a Tweet wherein he claimed that in addition to quality assurance and safety compliance of the buildings being compromised, the Trust took it one step further by deliberately not appointing builders registered with the National Home Builders Registration Council. 

However, the NHBRC cleared the Trust of wrongdoings within this regard as it then responded to his Tweet, explaining that these buildings would not be done by one of its builders as it is only responsible for newly built homes. The six schools which form the basis of these accusations by Msabe are the Raohang,  Katamelo, Mokoena, Mokae, Ratau, and Seiphemo Primary Schools which are in Botshabelo and Thaba Nchu, just outside Bloemfontein in the Free State. 

These allegations come in the wake of the tragedy at Hoërskool Driehoek in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, where a walkway that connects two buildings at the school collapsed, killing four pupils and leaving several others injured. Nyati lamented that the Trust was now being linked to unsafe schools as a result of these allegations by Msabe and she stated that his claims are false and misleading.  

Meanwhile, the Free State Department of Education earlier said it would be meeting with members from the Thaba Nchu and Botshabelo communities today to address concerns they may have been based on Msabe’s claims for them as a department to clarify any misunderstandings. By the time this article had been published, spokesperson for the department, Howard Ndaba, had not yet responded to questions OFM News sent to him on whether or not the meeting took place. 

OFM News