Long walk to education due to bad roads

KEALEBOGA Malema has to walk 7km to get to school every day - the dirt road to Nametsegang High School in Cassel is in such bad shape that minibus taxis refuse to drive it.

The 21-year-old Grade 11 learner said: "Fifteen learners were hurt in an accident last year when the vehicle carrying them overturned."

Part of her school, including the newly built administration building, was torched by residents venting their anger at the government's failure to tar the dirt roads.

A sense of hopelessness hangs in the air in the villages where unemployment is rife and living conditions are harsh.

Primary school principal Ruth Mokgeledi said teachers in the area had found the gates to their schools locked when they reported for duty.

"When we went back to the village on July 23 we were told that there would be a meeting. After that there was no school," she said.

"For eight days before we closed in June, the schools had already been closed. Learners from the village high school never wrote their June exam."

Her school, Bojelakgomo Primary, is in Laxey where some of the alleged protest ringleaders live.

The latest school-burning incident was reported on Monday in Madula Ridge.

Gloria Ditake, a resident and parent, said that the poor condition of roads in the area was a source of deep distress.

"We're afraid to go anywhere if it has rained. If an accident happened then not even an ambulance will come. That our children have wasted a year [because of the protest] hurts too," she said.

Chief Michael Mahune Gaseemelwe dismissed claims that government officials had reason to be afraid to visit the area.

"We have hurt no one. All we're asking is to be treated with dignity and not to be shot at when we are asking the government to speak to us," he said. "It hurts that children are not going to school."

Residents on Friday met officials from the public protector's office who were visiting the Glairn Red area. They said unemployment was running at more than 90% in the village.