South Africa News

Dept of Basic Education confident Gauteng pupil placement backlog will be cleared

The Basic Education Department is confident that by next week the backlog with school placement would be cleared in the province as it becomes clearer how many children have accepted their offered spots.

Minister Angie Motshekga said that by Tuesday, the Gauteng Department reported that 4,000 children still needed to be accommodated in schools.

Speaking to the SABC, the minister said that over the next few days officials would be able to see where children without schools could be placed.

“In some instances, parents apply, you admit, and they don’t turn up. Perhaps they have another alternative. Between today, tomorrow and Friday we will be able to see where there are empty spots see where we can place learners and that’s where we can place them. We want parents to be patient with us,” the minister said.

Coastal schools are set to open from next week.

The department said that there was also a backlog in school placement in KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape schools, which they had to deal with.

Meanwhile, the Western Cape Education Department said that it had worked hard to place as many pupils as possible ahead of the 2022 academic year.

“At the end of December 2021 the were approximately 600 Grade one’s and 3,200 Grade 8’s that still needed to be placed in the Western Cape we have since had progress in reducing these figures further during the holiday period, but we have had to deal with new and late applications coming in and the closure of schools” said department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond.

In other news – Meet the person behind R1.3 million nightclub bill; Passion Java, a Zimbabwean ‘prophet’

If you’ve so much as logged on to a social media site this weekend, then you probably saw the wild antics of partygoers at the 012 Lifestyle venue in Pretoria. A whopping R1.3 million bar bill was racked up – and Passion Java was the man picking up the tab.

Passion Java

Allegedly, Java – who has become a multi-millionaire through his work as an eccentric pastor – was not in attendance on Saturday, but he had no problems with paying the seven-figure sum. Learn More