A KwaZulu-Natal north coast businessman has stepped in to provide funding towards repairs at Seatides Combined School in oThongathi which was destroyed when a tornado ripped through the North Coast town three months ago causing devastation.
Renovations began this week and will soon see pupils return to their classrooms.
While the Grade 12 pupils were being taught at Anton Lembede Maths and Science Technology Academy in La Mercy, the Grade R to Grade 11 pupils were without classes until the Department of Education supplied temporary mobile classrooms for the pupils to use while the school was being renovated.
This week after a month of deliberation with the education department, owner of Venk-Pac, Ricky Naidoo, had workers begin renovations of the senior primary block which houses Grades 4 to 7.
“We adopted one block for now, the Mandela Block, and we are confident that the block will be completed by the end of next week. We are doing everything in the block and will replace exactly what they have, without cutting corners.
“Once the renovations are done, and we have enough finances, we will adopt another block,” said Naidoo.
He said currently the cost to renovate the one block stands at R500 000 to rebuild, adding that he will continue to help where he can with his own funds.
“The funds the school has raised have not been touched by me. When it comes to helping others, I will continue, as long as we have the funds. God has blessed us, so I will use my blessing to help others. I do it for the kids, who will have a comfortable classroom to return to,” said Naidoo.Venk-Pac also helped to rebuild 15 houses in oThongathi, giving those in need a new lease on life after the tornado stripped them of their possessions and homes.
Jonathan Naidoo, chairperson of the school’s governing body said that he was excited to finally have the pupils return to their normal lives, however, the road to renovation was difficult.
“To get the go ahead to rebuild was a nightmare because we had to get the building passed by the Department of Education in order to move with renovations since the school is a public building.
“Once it was passed, the next hard part was getting funding. We have received funding for most blocks. Like Venk-Pac, various other organisations are pledging other blocks,” said Jonathan.
He said that the SGB has been struggling and still don't have enough funding for repairs to be done to every block at the school.
Naidoo said they will continue to try to source funding."We want our kids to get back into the classrooms. We worked hard to make sure the day of renovations will finally come. We will make sure that the renovations go smoothly with all contractors doing their jobs without issues. We still have landscaping to do, and other renovations besides the buildings but we are grateful for all the funding we have received so far. We still need more but we hope to open parts of the school by the end of the year,” said Jonathan.Other sponsors of the school include the Gift of the Givers, Bidvest, Divine Life Society and the Zimbali Foundation.
