Private school ordered to vacate disputed land

A private school inClayville, outside Tembisa in Ekhurhuleni, has been told to vacate the land it is occupying and return to a previous address after it relocated without the Gauteng department of education’s permission, risking the possibility of deregistration. Links Combined College, with at least 100 pupils, is made of wooden classrooms on a plot of land that was previously owned by the department. Concerned parents raised safety concerns and noted the lack of a public high school, saying the land was earmarked for one, but after two years of inaction by authorities, it was leased by a private owner to the school.

Nomsa Dlamini, a parent, said she was deeply worried about the uncertainty surrounding theschool‘s registration status. “I wouldn’t know what to do because when we were told about this new school and the move, we didn’t really think much of it. There are no other schools in the area besides the one that is overcrowded, and the department isn’t doing anything to address that.

“So, you don’t really have a choice as a parent to look for an alternative for your child to have a better education,” she said. Another parent, Khanyi Mahlangu, said she had communicated her concerns about the school’s relocation with the department, but nothing changed. “None of this would have happened if the department had built a school there like they were supposed to.

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There is an overcrowding problem in the primary school, and our children have to travel long distances to go to schools outside of the community. “The worst part is they can’t even get spaces there because the education system says it’s outside its bounds, but they didn’t build a school here,” she said. The community marched to the Olifantsfontein primary school, where department of educationrepresentatives from the MEC offices and department of infrastructure development signed the memorandum of demands that included the construction of a public school.

Gauteng education spokesperson Steve Mabone said the school is registered with them, but under a different address. “The department can confirm that Links Combined College is a registered Independent School with the GDE operating at 1 Becker Street, Clayville, Olifantsfontein, Midrand, 1666, as per the operational master list. However, our officials were dispatched to the said school, and it was discovered that the school’s Foundation Phase (Grade 1–3) is operating at a different address: Corner 3182, Aluminium Drive, Clayville, Olifantsfontein, Midrand, 1666,” saidMabona.

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