YCL appalled by insufficient schools in Cape Town

20 July 2012

The Young Communist League of South Africa (uFasimba) in the Brian Bunting District is deeply disturbed by insufficient schools in the Wallacedene community in Cape Metro region of the Western Cape.

This resulted in number of children aged between 5 and 13 being denied their right to education and thus doors of learning being closed contrary to the aspirations of the “Freedom Charter”. The three existing schools in this community are overcrowded and cannot accommodate all children with dreams to liberate their families and communities through education from the bondage of poverty, underdevelopment and social injustices. Being failed by the poor education system, these children are loitering or roaming the streets as their dreams are shattered by the uncaring Democratic Alliance (DA) administration.

This injustice happens while DA administration is using every trick to close schools in the Coloured and African working class communities. Numerous efforts by Wallacedene community to engage provincial government failed due to the lack of commitment to dialogue by the DA administration. Young people in Wallacedene and broader Western Cape community deserve better and we demand that their Constitutional right to access basic education must be respected.

We firmly believe that there is no political Will to resolve the apartheid structural imbalances and that Mr. Grant is clueless on how to transform the Western Cape education system in line with our democratic ethos. Since assuming political power in 2009, the DA led government has failed dismally to build schools in the working class communities. Instead, it has reinforced the skewed distribution of resources by preserving apartheid privileges bestowed on white middle class schools at the expense of working class communities. We reaffirm our call that there must be school in every corner of our society in order to build an educated nation.

We call upon Helen Zille to immediately intervene and resolve the apartheid structural imbalances in the Western Cape education system which includes skewed school infrastructure in the working class areas such as Wallacedene. Western Cape education department must come up with a sustainable and short-to-long term strategy that seeks to eradicate apartheid education legacy.

We further demand that Mr. Grant must be released from his public duties and be replaced by a better capable candidate to avoid any further catastrophe and gambling with young people’s future.

For more information contact:

Sizwe Nyenyiso
Cell:082 499 0021