The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape lodged a complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) following serious concerns of asbestos contamination at the Noenieput Primary School building in the ZFM District.
An oversight inspection conducted late last year confirmed that vulnerable residents in the area are occupying the building and others are stripping the school of materials that can be used for construction. These structures are contaminated with asbestos and pose serious health threats to the surrounding community, especially those who are living on the premises and those plundering the school infrastructure.
While the building is not safe to be used as a school, failure by the education and roads and public works departments to initiate remedial action is concerning. The building should be secured to stop the further spread of asbestos contamination.
The DA first brought the issue to the attention of the MEC for Education, Zolile Monakali, in March last year. We requested the department to launch an immediate intervention to protect the school buildings from vandalism and for repairs of dilapidated or broken infrastructure to be carried out. To date, we have yet to see any action from the provincial government to eradicate the asbestos contamination at the old school building.
We again submitted a request for both these departments to clarify who is responsible to account for the condition of the school building and it is unacceptable that both the departments of education and public works are allowed to continue evading responsibility for eradication of asbestos at Noenieput Primary.
It is clear that the provincial government does not care for the education of learners or the health and safety of the Noenieput residents. We hope that our complaint to the SAHRC will result in the Departments of Education and Roads and Public Works finally being held accountable for years of neglect.