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The United Africans Transformation (UAT) is calling for an urgent, independently verified audit of all public school infrastructure in South Africa, along with the immediate release of the findings to the public.
This comes after comments made by Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube during a parliamentary presentation last week in which she claimed that “90% of schools are in fair to excellent condition.”
According to UAT, these remarks are both “heartbreaking and outrageous” and do not reflect the daily reality faced by thousands of learners across the country.
“When the minister confidently told the nation that ‘90% of schools are in fair to excellent condition,’ she did not speak for the thousands of learners still sitting in unsafe classrooms, walking through cracked walls, and using broken, undignified toilets,” said UAT national spokesperson Doer Mabule.
“She certainly did not speak for the parents and teachers in rural villages and overcrowded townships who are crying out for change.”
Mabule said it was about students learning in scorching hot container classrooms with no windows or proper ventilation.
The party pointed to long-standing failures in the education system, including the continued use of pit toilets, unsafe structures, and inadequate sanitation facilities.
”It’s about taps that don’t run, lights that don’t switch on, and schools without a single working toilet.”
Despite Gwarube’s admission that over 8,000 schools still require proper classrooms and 13,000 lack adequate toilets, her department has missed its March 2024 deadline to eliminate pit toilets,“ a promise made to South Africans a year ago,” said Mabule.
“These are not just backlogs. These are broken promises. And behind every one of those numbers is a child who deserves better,” he said.
UAT is demanding a focused emergency plan to address “the most dangerous infrastructure failures, collapsing classrooms, lack of water and electricity, and the disgrace of pit toilets.”
The party insists this plan must have clear deadlines and be implemented “with urgency, not excuses.”
Mabule emphasised that “it is not good enough to say, ‘we are working on it.’ Our children are not construction projects. They are people. They are the future.”
Calling for transparency and accountability, UAT said communities have the right to know the truth and that the Department of Basic Education must start listening to those most affected, “parents, teachers, and learners themselves.”
“We will not allow this government to continue hiding behind statistics while our children suffer in silence,” Mabule said.
“This is not about politics. It’s about justice, dignity, and the kind of country we want to become. Our children are watching. Let’s not fail them again.”
UAT believes that every child in this country deserves to walk into a clean, safe, and fully equipped school, not one day in a distant future, but now.
hope.ntanzi@iol.co.za
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