News24 | 35 years of empty promises: Authorities vow yet again to upgrade run-down Eastern Cape school

Community members came together and raised money to repair cracked walls and to do painting and replacement of broken glass windows at Nondwe Senior Secondary School in Eastern Cape. (Supplied)

• Nondwe Senior Secondary School in Willowvale, Eastern Cape, was built by community members over 35 years ago.
• The government has made no upgrades to the school since then, despite numerous promises to do so.
• Earlier this month, authorities made yet another promise to establish two temporary classrooms.

Newly elected Eastern Cape MPLs and provincial education officials have made yet another promise to upgrade the dilapidated Nondwe Senior Secondary School in the Wild Coast town of Willowvale.

This time they are promising temporary classrooms, even though the school management said it needed permanent structures.

The school, with 515 pupils in the 2024 academic year, was built by the local community in 1989 to ensure that children from the area received a high school education, but despite numerous promises over the years, it is yet to receive upgrades from the government.

With only one block of four classrooms and a run-down staff room, the school in Dadamba village serves the residents of about 30 sub-villages.  

Provincial legislature MPLs and senior education officials visited the school on 24 January and vowed to prioritise its infrastructure upgrades but nothing was done.

The failure of the government to upgrade the school prompted community members to raise funds to renovate the school last month. 

Before the renovations by the community, the school had cracked walls, a broken roof, old furniture, missing windows and broken pit toilets, and posed a hazard to staff and pupils.

A former pupil at the school, Bakhusele Mathupha, who founded a local cooperative Phawu AgriPark, was one of the community members who took part in the school's renovations.

He said they were able to put windows and close cracks in the walls.

"We also did painting. We did not raise much money and some costs came from our own pockets. We did not do some other things we wanted to do [because there weren't enough] donations," said Mathupha.

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Old furniture, a roof, doors and pit toilets are yet to be fixed at the school. 

The school management said the most recent visit by MPLs and officials, which took place on 9 July, and saw the authorities promise two temporary classrooms, was disappointing and frustrating.

'No permanent structure' at the school

A report by the Eastern Cape Legislature's Portfolio Committee on Education members, compiled after the visit in January, admitted there was a greater need for infrastructure upgrades at the school to "improve the learning and teaching environment".

Another report by the same committee compiled after the visit earlier this month stated: "There is no permanent infrastructure. The school is operating with temporary structures, and one block that is used as an administrative block is dilapidated. The school has been included in the priority list."

Work books for the 2024 academic year were yet to be delivered to the school, the committee found, "although the [Eastern Cape] Department of Education reported they had delivered 100% of LTSM (learning and teaching support material] to the school".

The report also noted there was no proper fencing and security at the school. There was also insufficient furniture for teachers.

The report added that there was no scholar transport for deserving pupils.

The report stated:

The report recommended that the provincial education department needed to prioritise providing the school with additional classrooms and improved infrastructure for a safe and healthy environment in which pupils could study and work as productively as possible.

It also recommended that deserving pupils at the school needed scholar transport and the school proper fencing and a security guard to protect it from vandalism.

School principal Zolani Dinwa told News24 in a recent visit that the MPLs and officials didn't physically go to the school.

"They called us to a venue. After fierce deliberations, they promised two mobile classrooms.

"We want a school to be built like other schools because there are no proper classrooms in our school. We are teaching kids outdoors," said Dinwa.

Promise of temporary classrooms

News24 has seen a letter by the Independent Development Trust, a state-owned entity, promising to procure the "supply and construction of two prefabricated classrooms, including associated works for Nondwe Senior Secondary School".

"The anticipated site handover is scheduled for 2 September 2024, considering procurement processes which includes Regional Bid Adjudication Committee and concurrence approval by the client [Eastern Cape Education Department]," the letter reads.

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Chairperson of the Eastern Cape Legislature's Portfolio Committee on Education, Monde Sondaba, said on Tuesday they were busy consolidating their reports on school visits undertaken earlier this month.

"As you know we are still new in the term and in the committee, but we have made an undertaking that issues that need urgent attention will be prioritised. We also want to deal with mud schools and poor sanitation facilities in rural schools. 

"I may not know all the issues facing Nondwe but I am familiar with the name of the school. That school would form part of our urgent priority. In our term, we will prioritise schools in rural areas with urgent need of infrastructure upgrades," said Sondaba.

Eastern Cape Education Department spokesperson Mali Mtima could not be reached for comment.