Staff and parents from a primary school in East London are up in arms after a housing committee apparently instructed a group of shack dwellers to relocate to the school’s sports field.
Nompumelelo Primary School principal Nokuzola Ndabambi said trenches had been dug in the sports field and poles had been placed in the soil so that shacks could be built.
Shack dweller Yoza said that an unknown number of shack dwellers from the Nompumelelo informal settlement had been told to move to the sports field at about 7am on Sunday morning by the area’s housing committee.
Municipal spokesperson Darby Gounden said the sports field was municipal property and not the school’s property.
”Our understanding is that the community was informed about the decision to use the field to accommodate some residents temporarily,” she said.
But Ndabambi insists that the field belongs to the school.
Holding the development map of the area, she pointed out that the field was clearly marked on the map and wondered how the municipality had managed to confuse communal land and the school property.
She said the pupils had worked hard a few years ago to level the sports field and that it was now used by school pupils and unemployed youths from the community.
”We will do whatever it takes to protect the interests of our children,” she said. – Sapa