The Mpumalanga Department of Education has been found on the wrong side of the fence again at the Platorand Special School, by failing to provide food to learners.
Recently, the Democratic Alliance (DA) received complaints that learners from the Belfast based Platorand Special School had to be sent home as there is no food to feed them. We were informed that the Mpumalanga Department of Education allegedly failed to pay the supplier’s previous invoice; and therefore, the supplier had no other option but to stop supplying food until the department paid the outstanding account.
Based on the above allegations, the DA has written to both the Mpumalanga MEC of Education, Bonakele Majuba, and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) asking them to urgently intervene.
We requested MEC Majuba to ensure that the service provider for Platorand Special School is paid with immediate effect so that the learners can return to school. We reminded MEC Majuba that his department is in violation of the learners’ Constitutional Right of access to food and education. MEC Majuba was also reminded that these special need learners are the most vulnerable and need the on-going therapy received at school; and sending them home is doing more damage than good.
In our letter to the SAHRC, the DA requested them to investigate possible human rights violations based on Section 27, 28 and 29 of the South African Constitution. These sections speak about the rights to access sufficient food and water; and the right to a basic education and further education, which the state, through reasonable measures, must make progressively available and accessible. One of the reasons the DA requests the SAHRC to intervene is because Platorand Special School caters for learners with special needs, and such learners are often neglected by this government.
This is not the first time the Mpumalanga Department of Education is in hot water concerning Platorand Special School. They are currently facing a R10 million lawsuit after a then nine-year-old boy was allegedly gang raped by eight boys on the premises of the school in May 2021. The boy’s mother accused the Department of failing to protect her child on the school premises.