Mud schools: SAHRC report dismissed as "misleading"

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga claims a report on the eradication of mud schools is disingenuous and misleading. Image: GCIS

A report entitled: "Mud to Bricks: A review of school Infrastructure spending and delivery" dated January 2014 was released by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) last week.

"Some of the content is outdated and has, in fact, been overtaken by events. Most of the challenges they raise have since been addressed," said the department in a statement.

The department claims the authors, Carmen Abdoll and Conrad Barberton - who compiled the report on behalf of the Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria - did not contact it for the latest information on progress made to address school infrastructure.

"The report relied on disparate sources of data and opinion to reach an adverse finding. An engagement with the DBE and provinces could have contributed to a more balanced findings and recommendations," said the department.

Minister Angie Motshekga started working on the Accelerated School Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI) in 2009 and sent its first concept note for the initiative to National Treasury as early as 2010. The department said it was disingenuous for the report to claim that the programme was born as a result of court action.

Mud schools being replaced

The capacity to manage the ASIDI programme resulted in a Programme Manager being appointed in October 2011

Since then, 70 mud schools have been replaced in the Eastern Cape and four in the Western Cape out a target of 510 schools, including those built entirely from inappropriate material.

A mud school in the Western Cape. The Department of Basic Education claims that a qualified team of experts is working to eradicate all mud schools from South Africa and alread 200 schools have been converted. Image: Equal Education

In the Eastern Cape alone, a further 100 schools are planned for completion in the next financial year. Nationally, the department says it will build more than 200 schools.

"To claim the programme will take another nine years when clear progress is being published on an on-going basis is not only mischievous but unnecessarily pessimistic," explained the department.

Motshekga says expenditure patterns have improved significantly as a result of improved planning and capacity on the programme, rising from R76m in 2011/12 to R859m in 2012/13 and to R1.358m in 2013/14.

She says ASIDI is providing basic services to schools that previously had none with 200 schools nationally being given access to water, sanitation and electricity.

Team of qualified people running programme

ASIDI is run by teams of competent professionals both in the programme support unit but conceded that the programme is not without its challenges, including community related issues, work stoppages, poor contractor performance, inclement weather and even gang warfare in some sections of the country.

ASIDI's budget for qualified staff has increased from R10m to R26m in the current financial year to cater for district personnel.

A total of 133 posts have been filled, comprising 18 quantity surveyors, 20 architects, three electrical engineers, three civil engineers, two GIS specialists, five town and regional planners, four education infrastructure planners, 39 works inspectors and 39 infrastructure finance specialists.

The department said this initiative, together with the deployment of technical assistants in the department and in provinces, had already addressed the capacity challenges contained in the report.

An update of the National Education Infrastructure Management System (NEIMS) has been completed to provide up to date information on infrastructure in schools. The provincial Education Departments are conducting condition assessments of individual schools to keep the system updated.

"We have made no secret of the challenges facing us and we are only too happy to account to the public. The Department of Basic Education will continue to replace mud schools and build new state of the art schools and hand them over to the communities.

"The department will not be distracted by the work of non-government organisations whose task is to misinform the public about the work of government for their own selfish interest," the DPE alleged.