Struggling parents demand educational access amid Addington Primary protests
The struggle continues for these young pupils who demonstrated outside Point police station, where March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma handed herself over to the police on Tuesday.
Image: Doctor Ngcobo / Independent Newspapers
A parent struggling to secure an affordable and accessible education for her two children has shared her frustration amid the protests at Addington Primary School.
Philisiwe Nofemele said she has two children, who should be in Grade 5 and Grade 7, who have not been placed in school. The school the children were placed at was far, in Durban Station, and the school fees are high.
“I can’t afford R5,000 for one child. Many of us here are unemployed; we live on grant money. The reason we’ve been trying to apply nearby is so that the children can walk there on foot. We live on this grant money; we do not work. We are also assisted by the R350,” Nofemele said.
“Now, by taking them to a school in Durban Station, the children would just keep having to commute. What we are fighting for is for the children to be admitted to the school (Addington Primary School) that is right here. The schools they have been assigned to have expensive fees. We don’t know what to do anymore.”
Nofemele, one of the flood victims from uMlazi, Zwelisha, and Isipingo, said they have been living in South Beach for three years now, since arriving in December 2022.
“We keep applying, but sometimes we are turned away right at the gate and told the school is full. What the people from the Department of Education say about applying in April — we know that; where we come from, it has always been done that way. We applied, and since we arrived here in 2022 — it is now 2026 — we have been busy applying, but it’s still said to be full. Yet, when others arrive who have money or who are foreigners, those children are accepted, while you are left behind. We are really not happy,” Nofemele said.
She said the problem is that they are not being heard: “If they would just put the children in school, that is all we are fighting for as parents, nothing else.”
A March and March supporter, who did not want to be named, said they are fighting for the people who were displaced and victimised by the 2022 floods. In the midst of that suffering, they were brought to flats, even though they did not want to.
“No parent who earns R350 and a child grant of R560 can afford it, when you have to transport a child for R900 in Greyville. Where will you get school fees of R5,000?” she asked.
ActionSA KZN chairperson Zwakele Mncwango said: “We can’t have South Africans who are outside not having education when foreigners have access to education. We believe there should be teaching and learning for everyone who is here legally. It’s okay, but we can’t then compromise and sacrifice South Africans at the expense of illegal foreigners.”