WE'LL MEET IN COURT, MEC TELLS COLLEGE IN RAPE SAGA

"It is exactly what we wanted them to do," says Eastern Cape Education Department

- NICOLA DANIELS

THE Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDE) says it is ready to meet the management of Bergview College in court following the independent school's threat that it would challenge the provincial government's decision to shut the institution.

The school has been thrust into the spotlight over complaints that a rape case involving a 7-year old learner at the school has dragged on for several months with no resolution and the principal allegedly refusing to provide police with a DNA sample.

The incident is said to have occurred in October last year while the little girl was waiting for her transport.

The school has remained defiant that its doors will remain open despite a 24-hour notice by the provincial education department to deregister over its handling of the rape incident allegedly on school premises.

The school had sent out a letter to parents noting its intention to challenge the ECDE decision to issue it with a notice with the intention to deregister.

By going to court, the college was doing "exactly what we wanted them to do," said Vuyiseka Mboxela, spokesperson for Eastern Cape Education MEC Fundile David Gade.