By Fahdia Msaka
Grocott’s Mail journalists recently visited Alicedale to investigate the neglected M10 road and the ongoing water crisis. During an interview with community spokespersons, they informed this newspaper of the dire situation at the Hendrik Kanise Combined School where a deteriorating double-storey classroom building is currently on the verge of collapse. On arriving at the school, Grocott’s Mail stumbled on an inhumane sanitary problem of broken toilets and waterless handbasins.
The school has learners from grade R to grade 12 but no water in the toilets. Therefore, the students collect water from the water tanks outside the bathroom to pour into the toilets to be able to flush. Educator Matemba Gumenge, who is also the School Governing Body secretary and a Head of Department at the school says, “Whenever we run out of water, we phone the municipality. The water we are harvesting from these rooftops we use for ablution facilities, which are appalling.”
A major problem at the school is a huge double-storey classroom building that used to house eight classrooms, the computer lab, and the library. The building was condemned because of defects and the Department of Education had promised to demolish it and rebuild a structurally sound classroom block. Until then, the learners are crowded into the remaining classrooms, with more than 60 learners in the Grade Four classroom, and more than 50 learners in the Grade 10 classroom.
Principal Monde Miona says: “When it comes to space, some classes are so overcrowded, and you know that we cannot have productive teaching in a class of 60 or 70, so that’s quite a challenge”. The Department of Education has told the school that when the fourth term starts next week, the site will be handed over to a contractor to start the build. Meanwhile, the school also still has asbestos roofing so the water harvested from these roofs is unfit for human consumption and can only be used to flush toilets. “It is rare to find schools that still have asbestos roofing. It is very dangerous,” Miona said.
Grocott’s Mail also spoke with the school’s Safety Patroller, Vuyani Mbatsha, who said the condemned building would pose a danger to children until it was demolished. “It is in bad condition. I constantly have to police children to prevent them from playing there because it can collapse at any time,” Mbatsha said.
The school has tried to block the stairwell with a huge, broken water tank so that children do not climb up to the first floor. They’ve also surrounded the building with red tape to prevent children from playing in the area. “But at the end of the day, children are just children, and they do not listen. I must constantly chase them away from the building whenever I see them because it could fall on top of them.”
Grocott’s Mail sent questions to the Eastern Cape Department of Education about the school’s problems but has not received a response.
