SEWAGE at Lebohang Secondary School forced School Governing Body (SGB) members to close the school on Monday, 13 February.
SGB chairwoman Boniwe Dentse told Daily Sun closing the school was a strategic plan to bring the district to the school.
“The sewer problem is worsening every day and it’s worse when it rains. The state of the school is not conducive for quality learning and teaching,” said Dentse.
She said they raised the matter with the department and their response was that they did not have a permanent solution to their crisis, but they would solve the problem. “The sewer here comes from houses close to the school. The manholes and kitchen are bleeding sewage, and the entire school has raw sewage,” she said.
Dentse said the school was closed in 2017 for the same problem. The district visited the school after several letters were written to them and they promised to help.
“Kids are getting sick. We closed the school because we need the department to deal with this problem as a matter of urgency,” she said.
National SGB secretary Thabiso Radebe said: “Almost every day and every week, the school gets affected by sewage spillages.”
Emfuleni municipality acting spokesman Mojalefa Radebe said that the sewer challenges at Lebohang Secondary School in Boipatong continues to be an ongoing concern for the municipality, this is after several large-scale efforts to resolve it were undertaken only for the problem to resurface within months.
Radebe said the municipality could confirm that they have appointed a contractor who will be upgrading the sewer pipeline from Boipatong through Tshepiso to Pump Station 4 in Sharpeville.
He said the municipality will be working on a long-term solution.
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Gauteng education spokesman Steve Mabona said the department was aware of the situation.
Mabona said the municipality is advised to assist with the cleaning of the school yard as soon as the pumping at the school is temporarily stopped, and the temporary solution might take two weeks to be completed.
The department appealed with the community not to disrupt schooling.
