Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Sihle Zikalala has expressed satisfaction that schools in the province will be ready for reopening tomorrow this comes after he assessed the damage caused by storms as part of the school functionality programme in uMkhanyakude District Municipality.

Premier Zikalala witnessed first-hand the extent of the devastation caused to school infrastructure during Operation Siyahlola (following up on our commitments) where he visited Ndukebandla Primary School and Malanda Primary School. 

“Today we started the school functionality programme of ensuring the state of readiness for learning and teaching as schools re-open tomorrow. About 186 schools in the province were affected and damaged by the storms across KwaZulu-Natal and it will cost the Provincial Government more than R200milion to repair the damage. As a developmental state we must urgently intervene when there are disasters of this magnitude and we will ensure that we repair all the damaged schools. In view of the planned interventions that have been presented by the principals at the schools we have visited, we wish to assure parents that when learners go back to school tomorrow learning and teaching will begin uninterrupted. The storm damage will not stop the reopening of schools on time because we are providing mobile classrooms as temporary relief in affected schools. We also commend the Department of Education for their swift response in dealing with this challenge,” said Premier Zikalala.

Premier Zikalala said the Provincial Government also has a programme in place to upgrade schools which includes replacing asbestos roofing at schools.

“We will not only repair storm damaged schools but we will also upgrade those that have asbestos. Although the programme of repairing schools that have been damaged by storms will take some time, we are confident that by the end of the second quarter the repairs would have been completed,” said Premier Zikalala.

The Premier’s visit, which comes a day before schools re-open in KZN for the 2022 academic calendar, will ensure that temporary interventions are implemented for teaching and learning to continue while the Provincial Government mobilises financial resources from national government and garner support for the reprioritization and reallocation of budgets and grants to repair damaged infrastructure.

Premier Zikalala concluded that some areas in KwaZulu-Natal have been declared under the State of Disaster and the provincial government was working with the national sphere of government to ensure that those affected areas were assisted to repair damaged infrastructure including roads, bridges and households.

Last week, the Provincial Executive Council received a report that estimates that it will cost R3 312 538 805.00 (R3.3 billion) to repair the damage to schools, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure to recover from the disaster.

Ends

Issued by the Provincial Government of KwaZulu-Natal

For more information contact Lennox Mabaso on 082 884 2403 or KZN Premier Media Liaison Gugu Sisilana on 082 889 3474