KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Mbali Frazer has expressed signs of concern following the prolonged water outages affecting schools within the uThukela District Municipality.
Some parts of the uThukela District have been experiencing water outages for several weeks, forcing the KZN education department to release learners earlier than the normal knock-off time when they finish their daily academic activities.
Frazer said that access to water is a basic right for all, including learners in schools.
“When our learners are not able to access water in schools, it means their constitutional rights to water and education are violated because they are released from school earlier than expected,” she said.
She added that water was an important resource in schools, and amongst other activities, it was needed for drinking, cooking for learners, and hygiene-related activities.
The MEC urged the leadership of uThukela District to prioritise water supply to schools by swiftly deploying tankers while they resolve the issues that have left parts of the district with dry taps.
“This is a serious matter, and it negatively affects our ability to deliver the necessary academic activities for our learners. uThukela District Municipality has a responsibility to supply our schools with water, but they have not done so for several weeks. They must urgently resolve this problem so that schools can return to the normal academic schedule,” she stated.
Reacting swiftly to rescue the situation, the department implemented measures to ensure that the writing of mid-year assessments is not affected.
The department further said it was unable to ensure that educators and learners were at school for the normal daily academic schedule if there was no water.
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