(Archive photo: Unsplash)
AfriForum is currently preparing together with at least one school to approach the court with an urgent application to ensure that the power supply to some schools in Pretoria and Centurion is restored.
This follows after the Tshwane metro notified the schools about a week ago that their power will be cut off as their property tax bills are overdue.
According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s head of cultural affairs, the schools’ power bills have been paid in full, in fact some have even paid in advance. The bills for services such as power and water supply are the responsibility of the governing bodies.
However, the property tax must be paid by the authorities, which currently does not seem to be happening in the Tshwane metro. AfriForum won a similar case against this metro in 2009 and is therefore ready to once again defend schools’ access to services for which they pay.
“It is unfair that learners’ and staff’s rights to quality education, safety and even the provision of their basic needs are violated due to the authorities’ misadministration. At the schools where there is currently no power, teaching cannot take place as normal. Systems that should protect safety on the premises are out of order.
“Nutrition schemes that must provide hot meals to the most vulnerable children cannot continue, while supplies in refrigerators spoil. Where schools have generators, only the most essential services can be provided and at an extremely high cost due to the current diesel price. Even this inadequate use of electricity is therefore not sustainable,” explains Bailey.
“AfriForum would like to hear from any school in the metro that is currently affected by this action of the Tshwane metro. We welcome that one of the schools’ governing bodies has already contacted us to represent them. They are standing up for the interests of their learners and staff. We encourage any other governing body, facing the same challenges, to also show the courage to join the legal action.
“This creates an important precedent for all schools that are unfairly harmed in this way. AfriForum trusts that lasting solutions can now be found once and for all against this unlawful action of the metro and maladministration of the authorities. Currently, the most defenseless and the innocent are being punished for the officials’ failure,” said Bailey.