The community of Tembisa waited about seven years for the completion and official handover of Mayibuye Primary School, but today, the Gauteng government finally delivered on its promise.
The Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, along with MEC for Human Settlements and Infrastructure Development, Lebogang Maile, as well as the MEC for Education, Matome Chiloane, were all present at the official launch of the school. They were welcomed by excited learners, teachers, various teacher unions and community members.
A remorseful Lesufi started his address by apologizing for all the delays that happened in the building of the school.
“We want to apologise to you all because we had so many things that we needed to fix before we open this school. We apologise for the bad weather conditions that you had to endure during this process. What has happened here in building this school, must never ever happen again in Gauteng,” Lesufi said.
Maile explained that the water pressure was not good and there were challenges with the sewer. He said they needed to ensure the school would have working toilets and proper running water before opening. He also said what has been launched today is phase one of the building. Sports grounds and a school hall will form part of phase two of the building.
“We don’t just want to build schools in Gauteng. We want to have sports grounds on the school premises because we want to produce future Bafana Bafana and Springbok players.” Maile said.
Chiloane urged the community to protect the school and to ensure it remains the way it is because future leaders will come from it. He also said that township schools have good, quality teachers who are equipped to produce good results.
“There’s always a perception that township schools are not better than former model C schools and it’s not true. We have always been consistent that all our teachers have been to the same universities and therefore know the same thing. We will never put our kids where we know there isn’t enough resources,” Chiloane said.
The officials were taken on a walk-about to see the school’s classrooms and facilities. They all agreed that the school is 100% ready to operate functionally.
Some learners shared poems and sang along as part of the celebratory mood that filled the day.