Statement by André Gaum, Western Cape Education Minister

Members of the Lwandle community in Strand prevented five Western Cape Education Department (WCED) officials from leaving the grounds of Khanyolwethu Secondary on Monday (27 January 2003), following a dispute over enrolment plans for the school.

The hostage-takers released the officials about 01h00 this morning after lengthy discussions between senior WCED officials, community leaders and members of local school governing bodies.

I will meet a delegation of interested parties on Thursday (30 January 2003) to discuss this matter further.

Khanyolwethu, in Lwandle, could accommodate about 1 000 learners. At the end of last year, more than 1 500 learners wanted to enrol at the school.

The Metropole East district office arranged to accommodate excess learners at Rusthof Secondary, about three kilometres from Khanyolwethu.

About 350 of these learners enrolled at Rusthof for 2003. During the December holidays, they were apparently persuaded to "de-register" and to return to Khanyolwethu.

Last week, about 1 800 learners sought to register at Khanyolwethu, of whom 1 000 can be accommodated. The WCED would like the excess learners to enrol at Rusthof and Strand secondary schools, which have enough space to accommodate them.

However, certain community members in Lwandle want the learners to remain under the supervision of Khanyolwethu Secondary School.

The Director of the Metropole East education district, Mr Melvyn Caroline, and two officials, Ms Ntombi Dwane and Mr Aden Fortuin, visited Khanyolwethu yesterday morning to discuss the department's position with a delegation from the school.

During the discussions, members of the community locked Mr Caroline and his colleagues in the school and prevented them from leaving the premises.

Mr Caroline alerted his superiors, who sent senior officials to negotiate with the community, and to try and restore calm, so that discussions could continue peacefully.

Community members subsequently prevented two other WCED staff members, Mr Merlin Hendricks and Mr Sadisile Jija of our Safe Schools Programme, from leaving, after allowing them into the grounds.

The behaviour of those who locked our officials into the school is completely unacceptable.

We have sufficient space available in local schools to meet the needs of our learners, and there is absolutely no reason why members of the local community need to resort to actions such as this.

We have appealed to the community to work with us on using our available resources as efficiently and as effectively as possible.

Those involved in seeking the release of our officials included Mr John Lyners, our Deputy Director-General: Operational Education Management, and staff from our labour relations unit, and the Safe Schools Programme.

I thank all of our officials for the professional manner in which they handled this matter, and the police and other community leaders who assisted us in securing the release of our personnel. We will continue in our efforts to resolve this issue peacefully, in the best interests of our learners.