New primary school on hold

At the end of 2014 residents in the area were excited when it was announced that a new primary school will be constructed on the corner of John Vorster Road and Paul Kruger Avenue.

However, shortly after inception, the residents in the area started to complain about the school as nothing was happening.

Ward 97 councillor Jaco Engelbrecht explained that the school’s construction is plagued by mismanagement.

“One can only imagine what the costs must have been to the tax payer already as they have cleared the land and they have placed guards on various points of the premises for months on end,” Engelbrecht said.

According to Engelbrecht, the biggest hurdle now is that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was carried out on the new school because the construction company in charge failed to meet some of the EIA regulations.

Director of Impact Management and Compliance Monitoring at City of Joburg, Lebo Molefe said, “The department started investigating the matter at the end of last year after receiving complaints from the public regarding the development of the school. According to information received from the contractor appointed to undertake the development, they were instructed to clear the site before February 2015. The contractor was also falsely informed that an environmental authorisation is not a requirement for the project and that no one can stop them from building the school. The site is approximately 11hectares, however, the extent of the actual development footprint could not be established.”

According to Molefe, the EIA Regulations of 2014 state that for the development of land bigger than five hectares one needs to have environmental authorisation prior to commencement of activities on site.

Molefe explained, “Based on the information currently available to the department, the activity seems to be illegal and has been escalated to the Environmental Management Inspectors at the National Department of Environmental Affairs for further investigation.”

Engelbrecht concluded by voicing his disappointment at the way the government department has handled the situation.

“It is shocking that a government department should conduct itself like this while our residents are desperate for accessible public schools. I appeal to the Department of Education to remedy this situation as a matter of urgency. And to ensure that all national and local laws are properly complied with, that planning is properly conducted and that a suitable school, that will meet the needs of this community far into the future, is constructed without any further delays and with proper consideration of the impact on available resources and infrastructure,” concluded Engelbrecht.