School book delivery on right track premier

LIMPOPO premier Stanley Mathabatha says he is satisfied with the delivery of stationery at schools in the province that had experienced shortages.

Mathabatha visited schools yesterday in the Mankweng area, east of Polokwane, to assess allegations that schools were running short of books for pupils in various grades.

The tender for the delivery of stationery was only awarded in November, causing delays in delivery.

The provincial department of education had started a programme to deliver stationery in schools where shortages had been identified.

By Friday, delivery had been done in most of the schools.

Speaking after his visit to Hwiti High School in Mankweng and Megoring Primary School in the nearby Mentz village, Mathabatha said he had no reason to be worried about the allegations of non-delivery of stationery in schools. He acknowledged, though, that some schools had not received enough stationery.

“From the visits I have personally made to the schools, I can confidently say that we are on the right track to ensure that delivery of outstanding stationery is completed this week. And I have no doubt that the job will be done,” he said.

NGO Basic Education for All (Befa) said yesterday it would fight tooth and nail to ensure all schools were provided with stationery before time ran out for pupils. Befa provincial coordinator Tebogo Sephakgamela said they were continuing to get reports from school principals that delivery had not been made but hoped those schools would get the books as delivery was still ongoing.

“We will work with the provincial department of education to make sure that the delivery of stationery was speeded up.”

He said they would do “checks and balances” soon to see if indeed the department had delivered on its mandate of delivering the books.

Mathabatha said he was also satisfied with the improved efforts by the service provider to ensure that the books reached schools. He said at Hwiti, only pupils in Grade 10 were affected, while at Megoring the shortage only affected Grade 3 pupils.

“But I’m going to make sure that the books are delivered in these two schools before the end of tomorrow [today],” he said.

In schools where textbooks had not been delivered, Mathabatha said he was encouraged that school authorities had improvised by making photocopies of textbooks to ensure pupils did not lag behind in the syllabus.

All MECs had been dispatched to various schools to check shortages and report back to the premier. Mathabatha said the contract to deliver stationery was for three years and would be done in October to ensure the problem did not recur next year.