Mpumalanga pulls plug on R100m 'fancy schools'

Province cannot afford prestige over practicality

- By Tshwarelo eseng Mogakane

The Mpumalanga government has quietly admitted what many parents and teachers have long felt-that prestige schools may look impressive, but they are bleeding the budget dry.

After more than a decade of pouring hundreds of millions into state-of-the-art campuses, the province is shifting gear. From now on, the focus will be on cheaper and practical schools, even if that means less glamour.

Premier Mandla Ndlovu made the announcement in Bushbuckridge on Friday, during the Taking the Legislature to the People outreach.

He told residents that the province could no longer afford to prioritise prestige over practicality, saying Mpumalanga's obsession with "high standards" had left thousands of pupils in collapsing classrooms while vast sums went into just a handful of expensive projects.

"We have 54 schools that were initiated by the communities around Mpumalanga. When it rains, these facilities collapse. A little wind and they are gone. We have started a programme to rebuild all these schools. However, I've highlighted to the Department of Public Works that we are building way too expensive schools in Mpumalanga."