Dealing with government is 'depressing' -- archbishop

An archbishop has been left depressed by government red tape that is frustrating his project to restore more than 50 historic high schools.

Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Njongonkulu Ndungane has led a pilot project of 11 schools since 2006. Today he feels "frustrated and depressed" by government apathy.

The Department of Basic Education did not respond to questions from the Sunday Times.

Some of the schools educated several African notables, among them Nelson Mandela, Albert Luthuli, Pius Langa, Seretse Khama and Milton Obote, the first leader of an independent Uganda.

Among the schools are Ohlange High and Inanda Seminary in Durban; Morris Isaacson High in Soweto; Healdtown Comprehensive near Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape; Tiger Kloof in North West; Inkamana High School in Vryheid, northern KwaZulu-Natal; and Adams College near Amanzimtoti, where there has been some progress.

Ndungane said dealing with the government had left him as battered as some of the institutions.

A single exception is Healdtown Comprehensive, Mandela's old school. The school, for which R100-million was budgeted, was given funding of R3.5-million last year.

Ndungane described the task as herculean. "This laudable project has not been without its challenges," he said.

"There are exciting possibilities and the dream to turn these great institutions into high-calibre learning academies remains hopeful. But the process of dealing with government at different levels has been depressing and draining."

He said a proposal by former education minister Naledi Pandor to give the schools a special designation was not supported by the state. This meant slow and tedious negotiations with the government on top of funding challenges.

Infrastructure aside, the right teachers needed to be in place to stimulate partnerships with alumni , business and the government.

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"Accessing money for each school is clearly difficult," Ndungane said.

"As a result we have broken down the project in each case into phases. The budget was to have come from government, the private sector and alumni, but obviously this has not happened."

He said there had been some progress at Tiger Kloof and Inanda Seminary.

Plans to restore Ohlange High have come to nothing.

The school was founded by the ANC's first president, John Langalibalele Dube, in 1901. Today Ohlange High is a shadow of a once proud institution.

It was modelled on Tuskegee University, a black university in Alabama, in the US, which Dube visited.

Mandela cast his vote at Ohlange High in the first democratic elections in 1994.

The principal, Siyanda Nxumalo, said there were huge cracks in some classroom walls.

He said the entire school needed to be rebuilt, which would cost R50-million.

Inanda headmistress Judy Tate said the school's infrastructure was a "mixture of run-down and some new" that needed ongoing repair.

Morris Isaacson High principal Steven Khanyile said little had changed since 1976, when the school was the epicentre of the Soweto uprising.

Isabel Steenkamp, the principal of Inkamana High School, praised the project's "very positive input".