Addington Primary: March and March welcomes placement of displaced learners, rejects misinformation claims

The organisation at the centre of protests at Addington Primary School has pushed back strongly against the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education’s account of their demonstrations, dismissing MEC Sipho Hlomuka’s intervention as overdue and rejecting claims that protesters acted irresponsibly or with political motives.

Speaking outside the school after the MEC’s briefing, March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma said the department was merely doing what it should have done weeks earlier.

Earlier Hlomuka said department officials had picked up errors on the list of displaced children provided by organisation. It said some of the children on the list needed to enter Grade 8.

However he added that about 15 to 21 children that needed assistance would be accommodated at the school while Grade R children would be placed in another school.

In response to the intervention, Ngobese-Zuma said:  “I think it was about time, and it's not like we're going to praise the government for doing what the government was supposed to do, like, weeks ago.”

“So he showed up, and so did his people, and they did what they were supposed to do in the beginning, which is what we've been asking for. I don't see anything commendable about it.”

Ngobese-Zuma said the department’s claim that children had been placed ignored the practical realities facing families who were displaced by the floods and were currently staying in the Durban CBD. 

“They have been insisting that they have placed the children, and we have been persistently saying that claiming to solve one problem by creating another is not a solution,” she said.

“If you are going to take people from where they used to live, you put them in a certain place and make things accessible to them, or else you're the one that has to carry the burden of their welfare.”

Dispute over learner lists

The MEC earlier accused the group of submitting an unverified list of learners, including children already enrolled elsewhere and placed in the wrong grades.

Ngobese-Zuma rejected claims that March and March had submitted misleading information or included foreign learners.

“They initially said that we brought 20 children here that are foreigners, which is quite strange because they provided a number of 66 children,” she said.

“And they also said 40 of those children are children that are displaced from the floods.”

She questioned how the department arrived at its figures.

Ngobese-Zuma said the allegations made no sense.

She also rejected claims that the protests were political in nature.

“At the end of the day, we're here because of parents. We're not here for ourselves,” she said. “I'm not a political party. I'm none of that.”

‘This is about children, not politics’

Ngobese-Zuma said accusations of politicking were an attempt to shift blame away from government failures.

“But it's always scapegoating when it comes to the government. They always want to pinpoint the problem to someone else,” she said.

“Because if they had solved the problem earlier on, do you think we would still be standing out here?”

She said the organisation had no interest in credit or public recognition.

“De-campaign us and put the children in school and claim the glory for yourself,” she said. “We don't care as long as the children are in school.”

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