Education portfolio committee members who visited the two areas this week were shocked to find that children were still being taught in structures condemned by the court as "inhumane for human habitation".

An order to eradicate the schools in the Ngqeleni district and put proper structures in place was granted by the Grahamstown High Court in February last year. More than 400 mud schools are in the Eastern Cape.

"We anticipated the schools to have been built and completed by the end of March this year," committee chairman Mtshiyeni Sogoni said. He said the department was allocated R700m for the whole project of providing proper classrooms and other services like water, electricity and ablution facilities.

Angry members of the committee, which was dispatched by the Bhisho legislature for a fact-finding mission, threatened to also not provide any additional funding to the department until the work has been done.

They also raised concerns about local contractors who were promised jobs but were excluded by companies from outside the provinces who awarded tenders. Sadtu has also condemned the system of awarding of tenders to build the schools by the department and has called for an investigation.

Mawande Jack

The New Age