Deputy Chief Justice Judge Raymond Zondo has called on government to make education its priority, particularly in disadvantaged communities. He was speaking at the hand-over ceremony of the newly-renovated Emazabekweni primary school in Highflats, in southern KwaZulu-Natal.
The 80-year-old school, which Zondo attended as a child, was in a state of dilapidation. The renovations, to the tune of R1.5 million, were undertaken by The Zondo and Bux Educational Trust together with the South African Muslim Charitable Trust.
Zondo says there must be a commitment to maintain schools in rural areas.
“There needs to be commitment on leaders that schools that are in rural areas have been disadvantaged for a long time and we need to do quite a lot and put aside a lot of money to ensure that there is improvement on infrastructure. To make sure that the schools which learners attend are safe, make sure that there are proper toilets, to make sure that the school rooms and classrooms they’ve got proper roofs, they’ve got proper walls because some of the schools when you go around in various rural areas you find that they are falling apart. And we need to change all of that and government needs to come to the party and to make sure that the rural schools are really given special treatment,” says Zondo.
