Durban — KwaZulu-Natal Public Works and Infrastructure has fulfilled a Durban community’s 22-year dream of having a primary school.
The Faith Mlaba primary school which is 95% complete will be handed over to the Education Department next month, thereby fulfilling the 22-year dream of the Ntuzuma township community north of Durban.
Public Works and Infrastructure MEC Martin Meyer made a final inspection of the project on Friday and confirmed that it will be ready for use by the school in the next few weeks.
The MEC said the opening of the school will be a culmination of a 22-year dream by the school’s founder Faith Mlaba and her community.
The school is named after Mlaba as a token of honour for her efforts in getting a school for the local pupils who were travelling long distances.
Meyer said the delays were caused by the unavailability of land, saying moving the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court to the new site in KwaMashu made things easier for his department to build the school on the land where the court was.
It was his department’s dream to convert unused government buildings or land into facilities that will benefit communities, he said.
He had asked all government departments in rural areas to identify unused government buildings so that his department would build needed facilities.
The MEC said he was talking to the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department to identify unused buildings in rural areas so that his department would start traditional courts.
“You will recall that when I was appointed, I announced that my department will look for unused government facilities to repurpose them.
“We are doing exactly that. Here there was a court building but we have built a school. We will do that everywhere in the province with no headache of first acquiring land,” said Meyer.
The MEC also announced that as part of cutting down expenditures, his department was now using its own building consultants which would save millions of rand.
Normally a private consultant charges between 15 and 20% of the total budget for the project.
Speaking at the event, Faith Mlaba, who is also the chairperson of the school governing body, said after hearing the cries from parents that their kids were always mugged on their way to and from school in 2002, she felt she must start a campaign to have school within the community.
She said the department did help by admitting that there was a need for the school, but the problem was land.
She said the Justice Department allowed for the installation of park homes at the back of the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court, while she was looking for a piece of land for the school. Moving the court to a new site in KwaMashu was a blessing for her community, she said.
The school will have 15 classrooms and an administration block.
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