Contractors who left Gauteng schools incomplete must face consequences - Lesufi

JOHANNESBURG - Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said contractors who left schools incomplete in the province needed to face the appropriate consequences.

Lesufi was speaking during the launch of the Mayibuye Primary School in Tembisa on Wednesday, which opened its doors for the first time since it was built in 2017.

The R98 million facility stood vacant for years because of a sewer line that was draining into the school grounds.

Lesufi said the inability of the initial contractors who were hired to fix the issue of the sewer line played a role in how long it took to open the school.

The state-of-the-art facility with smart classrooms, science labs, an Early Childhood Development block, and a library cost the province more than R100 million since 2017.

Lesufi said this was not the only school that had not been completed.

"We can't leave them unattended for the mess that they made here in Mayibuye. It can't be that when we build schools for black children, the arrangement must be clumsy."

While the school has been opened for certain grades, the Department of Education said the second phase of the school would be handed over in April.