Cape Town - The expansion and increase of informal settlements in the Western Cape has been listed as an example of why there has been an increase in damage and vandalism at schools.
Premier Alan Winde revealed during a written reply in the Legislature that there were many examples where informal settlements adjacent to schools were the reason for damage/ vandalism to school fences.
“Fencing was done in 2019/20, but did not form part of the 5-year fencing/safety plan and the selection did not conform to criteria of the 5-year plan,” he said.
Winde said the budget per year was R37 500 000 for 30 schools, and that the 5-year plan had commenced.
“We are committed to completing the following years of the plan ending 2024/25,” he said.
Khensani Motileni, head of research and policy for Social Justice Coalition (SJC), said: “They can’t blame communities when they’ve failed to ensure that people from poor black and working class communities have access to adequate housing.”
Motile said obviously crime is committed by people, they just need to investigate why people are occupying land at the rate they are, and the impact of the lack of service delivery on poorer communities.
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the WCED had indeed seen an increase in vandalism reports in schools that were situated next to illegal settlements and land invasions.
Hammond said the damages and theft were mainly external, which included stolen copper piping, electrical cables and light fittings.
She said schools did receive norms and standards funding, and a portion of that was to also address vandalism damage or theft – however, that was costly and impacted the maintenance budget of the school.
Khalid Sayed, ANC provincial spokesperson on education, said Winde was being disingenuous and feeding into the dangerous DA narrative that poor people – particularly those originating from the Eastern Cape and living in shacks – were the problem in the province.
Sayed said it was a very distasteful argument which could not be left unchallenged. “I have visited many schools in residential suburbs where school fences are broken. These include many schools whose fences have never been changed in over 50 years and those broken by criminals,” he said.
He said the main issue was lack of maintenance as well as elements of thuggery in communities.
“The premier must stop making excuses and allocate more resources towards school safety and fencing as he promised in his State of the Province address,” Sayed said.
Winde’s spokesperson Cayla Murray said: “What is, in fact, disingenuous is the claim by the member that this government sees semigration as a problem. This could not be further from the truth.”
Murray said the Western Cape is open to, and welcomes, people and Winde was on record as saying so, unequivocally.
“It is the passion and pursuit of a better life that will help to grow our economy. It will also drive innovation. What we require of the national government, however, is that as our population grows, the budget for increased service delivery follows. This includes, but is not limited to, education,” she said.
She said that should be expected, not just in the Western Cape, but also in other provinces that face population growth.