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In a small town called Ugie in the Eastern Cape, 200 pupils will not need to use cow dung to keep their tiny feet warm this winter thanks to the Sithembele Chapile Foundation, which has ensured that their days of walking to and from school barefoot and in tattered shoes are over.
Sithembele Chapile, the chief executive officer of the foundation, drove through the night on Wednesday from Cape Town to deliver the footwear.
“I wanted to ensure that the shoes would reach the intended beneficiaries in time – before the first flakes of snow fall in Ugie,” said Chapile.
Accompanied by his friends and co-sponsor, Chapile said he believed that children deserved to be adequately provided for.
“Raising a child is a collective responsibility. Where there are no adequate resources, we must pull together to ensure that no child misses an opportunity to get education because they can’t afford to have the amenities required to get it.”
However, he said that more needed to be done.
“I am concerned because, when I got here, I discovered that my consignment was not enough.
"The situation at ET Thabane Public Primary School is painfully dire. These kids will never survive winter without proper school shoes and warm, protective clothing,” he said.
“My heart was crushed when I arrived and realised that, although many children will be smiling after receiving a new pair of shoes, many more will be heartbroken because they will remain without shoes.”
Ugie sits at the foot of the Drakensberg Mountains, where the temperature during winter plummets and harsh snow storms are a regular occurrence.
The mayor of Elundini Local Municipality, Nonkongozelo Lengs, said the school shoes would make a huge difference to the pupils’ lives.
“When you peep through the window at the challenges of living in a poverty-stricken area like ours, you may assume that having no shoes doesn’t have great impact on education,” she said.
“But let me take you through the picture – there are kids here who walk barefooted to school every day. When it snows, as it will very soon, the attendance numbers will drop drastically.”
She said that, because so many pupils came from poor households, their families couldn’t afford to buy them shoes.
In desperation, these pupils search for cow dung on the way to and from school and stand in it.
“This helps relieve the harshness of the cold and snow on their feet,” said Lengs.
“What the Sithembele Chapile Foundation has done today will turn things around for pupils who live like this,” she said.
Speaking to City Press, Chapile said he loved helping out in this way.
“It gives me absolute pleasure to play a part, albeit small, in ensuring that children get an education.
"I drove here from Cape Town, but I am from these mountain ranges that can be so cruel to human beings in winter,” he said.
“All I am is a taxi operator in Cape Town – nothing fancy at all – but this region remains in my heart because these are my humble roots,” he said.
Chapile grew up in Barkly East, so he knows all about the freezing winter days and nights.
“Last year, I took shoes to my hometown, Barkly,” he said.
“My dream is to provide all children with the requirements that will enable them to stay in school, no matter how destitute they are.
"Poverty should not deprive kids or strip them of their right to education. With the assistance of partners in business, I will ensure that we reach the majority of the children, if we can’t reach all of them,” said Chapile.
Pieterson Kapa, the principal at ET Thabane, said the gift was most welcome.
“It comes at a time where we face many challenges. When winter approaches, we worry about the children; we worry about the plight of our pupils. These shoes mean the world to us and them,” he said.
The lack of school shoes is not the only challenge the pupils face every day.
The DA’s shadow MEC for education, Edmund van Vuuren, said ET Thabane was so badly run-down that it was not fit for learning and teaching.
He said three oversight visits had been made since 2013, but nothing had changed.
When City Press arrived at the school on Thursday morning, it was raining and Van Vuuren’s statements were confirmed – just a fraction of the 2 000 pupils were at school because the heavy rains had forced them to stay at home.
Van Vuuren said that the Eastern Cape department of education and its MEC, Mandla Makupula, had failed the pupils, their parents, the teachers and the entire community by ignoring requests for a new building.
“Makupula has ignored all the requests and pleas to change the situation around at the school. His behaviour towards the school and its stakeholders is sinful, scandalous and unacceptable,” said Van Vuuren.
“The plight of the school and its pupils is just another example of how an uncaring government is abandoning the most vulnerable in our society.”
The relief of having new shoes may be short-lived – with winter fast approaching, they may still find themselves staying at home because the walls meant to protect them are caving in.
Van Vuuren said the province’s education department could not say why the school’s infrastructure had not been repaired.
“Our conclusion was that they had overspent on other projects,” said Van Vuuren.
Speaking for Makupula, Malibongwe Mtima said the department would follow up on the situation at ET Thabane.
“We can assure you that we will send our team to investigate why the school has not been given the attention it needs,” said Mtima.
“I can assure that this matter will get the utmost attention it deserves.”
