President, Minister welcomes resumption of schooling in Vuwani
President Jacob Zuma has welcomed the reopening of schools in Vuwani in Limpopo.
The president met with community leaders amid ongoing protest action the area.
He was also supposed to meet with the community, but after "assessing the situation" a decision was taken that the community meeting would not take place.
President Zuma felt the meeting was not representative of the whole community and mostly composed of residents opposed to the new municipality.
Residents refuse to be part of the newly establish municipality LIM 345 along with Malamulele.
"The engagement has been a success. We are pleases that the community members have agreed to the re-opening of schools. Schools and other essential services should not be affected. Children should learn and other services must be delivered until we find a permanent solution," says President Zuma.
https://www.jacarandafm.com/news/news/presidency-defends-zuma-no-show-vuwani-meeting/
Meanwhile, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has also welcomed the resumption of schooling in Vuwani today.
"We value the education of our children and we hope that this kind of disruption will not happen again. Our main aim right now is to ensure that our learners catch up with their work through interventions that will be rolled out at all schools," says Motshekga.
Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga says officials from the provincial Department of Education have been monitoring the situation closely in the area to ensure that schooling resumes.
"The Vuwani shutdown had affected 76 schools involving 27 697 learners with 1 702 of them in grade 12," says Mhlanga.
Mhlanga says initial reports indicate that all the affected schools were re-opened in the area this morning.
"An assessment of the days that have been lost to the protest has been conducted and this will inform us of what needs to be done to help our learners to catch up," says Mhlanga.