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Court dismisses application to halt schools’ recovery plan

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Classrooms at Meyisi Senior Secondary School in Flagstaff near Lusikisiki. Picture: Mziwoxolo Mtola
Classrooms at Meyisi Senior Secondary School in Flagstaff near Lusikisiki. Picture: Mziwoxolo Mtola

A Polokwane High Court judge has dismissed an urgent application that sought to set aside government’s proposal to reopen schools on June 1.

According to the department of basic education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga, the urgent application brought by the Tebeila Institute of Leadership, Governance and the Training and the African Institute for Human Rights and Constitutional Litigation was dismissed by Judge Gerrit Muller on Tuesday.

Read: Court battle looms over reopening of schools

The institutes had approached the court in an attempt to also stop the department from implementing the recovery plan for schools as a result of Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Mhlanga said in a statement that Judge Muller dismissed the case, citing in his judgment that the court had no jurisdiction over the matter and ordered parties to cover their own costs.

“Judge Muller agreed with the department that the competent court would have been the Pretoria High Court because that is where [in Pretoria] the offices of the minister and the department are located, not in Polokwane in Limpopo,” Mhlanga said.

A decision to reopen schools will only be finally determined after the National Coronavirus Command Centre has approved the school recovery plans and is satisfied with the risk assessment completed.
Elijah Mhlanga

“On the substance of the matter, the department argued that the contemplated reopening of schools had been developed together with the provinces, other government departments, all stakeholders and civil society through a consultative process over a number of weeks. The announcement by the minister was of the proposed tentative dates only. A final date for schools to reopen will be informed by the readiness of schools to reopen,” he said.

Mhlanga said in the answering affidavit, the department’s director-general Mathanzima Mweli stated that Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga did not come up with the draft recovery plan overnight but it had been developed with rational, considered and responsible input from stakeholders as well as interested and affected parties.

“Furthermore, a decision to reopen schools will only be finally determined after the National Coronavirus Command Centre has approved the school recovery plans and is satisfied with the risk assessment completed. The department of health’s approval to reopen schools will also be required.

“The department will now proceed with its plans as outlined by minister Motshekga last Thursday,” Mhlanga said.

Efforts to get hold of the institutes were unsuccessful.


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