By AIMEE DE LA HARPE AND CHRISTINA SUKOP
AMASANGO Career School has been running for over 15 years. The school caters for socially marginalised, impoverished and abused children who are in need of a stable and nurturing environment.
On the last day of term there were 130 pupils in attendance and 50 high school pupils that they sponsor. In recent weeks Amasango has been engaged in legal proceedings to acquire new facilities.
Acting Judge Belinda Hartle concluded the court hearing on 11 March, as the Department of Education’s legal representation agreed to the proposed offer made by Amasango.
However, the provincial branch of the Education Department is now trying to ignore this court agreement that requires the construction of new premises for the school.
The court order states that by 25 March 2010, the Education Department must file an affidavit setting out how they plan to commence construction of a new school for the school by May 2011.
The affidavit must also include confirmation that the new school has been budgeted for and that the budget has been approved by the Department of Public Works.
No such affidavit was filed. The Eastern Cape Department of Education claim that they did not agree to the time frame that their legal representation agreed to in court and are trying to have paragraph two set aside.
Sarah Sefton, who is representing Amasango, says she will oppose any attempt to set aside the order of court and further that she will launch an application against the department for contempt of court.
At the time of going to press Amasango’s legal representation had not received any information from the provincial branch of the Education Department regarding their intentions on the matter.
If they are successful in this application Amasango will once again have been let down by the Education Department.
The battle for new premises is not new to Amasango Career School. After originally applying for a new school several years ago, the management was told they would receive a building which was donated to the Department of Education by Eskom.
Eskom was also prepared to fund all renovations in order to facilitate a school in the building that had been donated.
However, the school did not know that a wrecking ball had been hired to destroy the building that was to be their new school. So far no one can answer why the building was destroyed.
Once again Amasango applied and were told they were at the top of the priority list, months of meetings took place and another sight was chosen.
A project manager was also appointed to build the new school. A seven-foot fence was to be the first order of business to protect the building during construction and once it has been completed.
But the fence did not materialise as an order was given to the Department of Public Works to pull out from the project.
After this incident the School Governing Body chose to hand over the issue to legal representatives in 2008.
Amasango Career School are desperate for new premises as they are currently situated in abandoned buildings alongside the railway line in Grahamstown.
