MPUMALANGA police had to remove some 20 people who staged a sit-in at government offices on Tuesday night to try force the education department to pay an outstanding bill of R1,3 million.
The protesters sat in at the department of public works in Nelspruit after education officials told them the matter was the responsibility of public works.
Captain Phindi Maseko of KaNyamazane police station said on Wednesday that no one was arrested.
The protesters come from Daantjie tribal trust where over 1 000 schoolchildren have been unable to attend class for over a week after a disgruntled sub-contractor welded the school gates shut in order to force the education department to pay the money.
The money is owed for construction work that was completed at Ndlaphu Primary School two years ago.
On Wednesday, education spokesman, Peter Maminza, denied the department owed any money.
He said the department had got a court interdict on Tuesday preventing the sub-contractor, Symeon Sibiya, from keeping children out of school. The court interdict follows failed attempts to have Sibiya arrested.
Charges of the illegal obstruction of learning and the unlawful closure of a public institution were laid against him last Tuesday, but he has not been arrested.
Maminza gave assurances that schooling would continue as usual on Thursday.
Capt. Maseko said police met with about 700 parents on Wednesday morning who reportedly don’t want their children to go back to school, however, until the matter is resolved.
“Even if we force open the welded gates, it won’t help because the parents are now siding with the sub-contractor,” he explained. Maminza insisted that education MEC, Craig Padayachee, would not meet with the sub-contractor or the main contractor.
The main contractor, JM Nkosi, claims the department owed him R1,3 million, R300 000 of which is owed to Sibiya.
Chairman of the Mpumalanga United Business Organisation Fund, Ronny Mashile, said all relevant documents proving that the bill was unpaid had been faxed to the office of State President Thabo Mbeki. “We now want the president to intervene,” he said.
— African Eye News Service, May 24, 2000.