PRETORIA - Judgment in an application to compel the Limpopo and national education departments to deliver textbooks to schools in the province was reserved on Tuesday.
Rights group Section 27 approached the North Gauteng High Court for the order after government failed to fully implement two previous orders by the same court.
The Limpopo Education Department conceded that it failed to deliver all textbooks by the stipulated deadline. But argued it was not in contempt of court because of factors outside of its control.
With just weeks left of the 2012 school year, some Limpopo pupils still do not have textbooks.
Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, acting for Section 27, told the court it wanted an order to reinforce earlier delivery instructions with a new deadline.
The organisation also wants independent verification of the delivery because it no longer trusts the department's reports.
The parties agreed that a plan should be in place for the delivery of books for next year.
Several grades in various Limpopo schools have been without books for longer than seven months.
There have also been various reports of dumped books having been discovered across the country.
SECTION ORDERS
Section 27 said it was confident it would be able to convince the court to issue another order for textbooks to be delivered.
Section 27 executive director Mark Heywood said, “What we heard was an admission [from the department] that they have not complied with the court orders.
“There are still 70,000 at least that are still waiting to be delivered.’
He said they asked the court for three orders, including one declaring the department's catch-up plan incomplete.
“We set a new firm date for the completion of the delivery of textbooks and for independent verification because we do not trust the department.”
Judge Jody Kollapen is expected to deliver his ruling later this week.
(Edited by Zethu Zulu)