New school for blind learners is nearly ready at last

A long-delayed new school for blind learners in Limpopo is nearing completion at last.

The Rivoni School for the Blind in in Njakanjaka village in the Vhembe district, has 167 learners in Grade R to Grade 12. The school was started in 2016, by the Rivoni Society for the Blind, founded in June 1975 at Elim Hospital by late Swiss doctor Erwin Sutter. The Society later transferred responsibility for the school to the Department of Education.

Today the prefab buildings which house the learners’ classrooms and sleeping quarters are dilapidated, with holes in the floors. Learners and staff use mobile toilets.

Rivoni School is one of six in Limpopo that caters specifically for visually impaired and blind learners. The school has maintained a 100% pass rate over the years and is one of the best-performing schools in the province.

In 2019, protesting learners at the school blocked the R578 demanding that the Limpopo Department of Education fix the school.

In June 2021, a R168-million tender to rebuild the school was awarded to Clear Choice Builders. Date of completion was set at 17 June 2024. The new school is to include staff offices, hostels, houses for hostel managers, a recreational area, a dining hall, kitchen, administration block, two classroom blocks with 17 classrooms, two toilet blocks, and a workshop and laboratory.

But problems with payment of workers and sub-contractors have delayed construction. One local contractor said he had left the site because payments to him did not cover his workers’ wages.

“Some sub-contractors had to shut down their businesses due to these issues,” he said.

“It was not easy to work there; there were no materials, late payments, and low rates,” said one former worker at the site.

When GroundUp visited the site on Tuesday, 20 August, only a few workers were present, painting and mixing cement.

Matimba Mdoka, the Community Liaison Officer at the site, confirmed that there had been several payment delays since the project started. “Due to these payment delays, some workers and sub-contractors have left the site. Although some workers stayed despite the situation, much of the work remains incomplete,” Mdoka said. He said Clear Choice Builders had blamed payment delays on the Independent Development Trust (IDT) which is funding the construction.

But Phasha Makgolane, spokesperson for IDT, told GroundUp that all claims submitted had been paid according to the work done on-site. Makgolane said IDT is responsible for paying the main contractor and the main contractor has a legal agreement with subcontractors and workers.

Clear Choice Builders managing director Sipho Manonga denied that there had been problems with payments. He said all labourers and sub-contractors had been paid and the project was now 90% complete. He said the school would be finished by 9 December 2024.

Mosebjane Kgaffe, spokesperson for the provincial education department, said they are not aware of any delays in payments.

“We have heard about delays in the project, and the holes in some of the mobile classrooms are causing problems for learners,” said the chair of the School Governing Body, Elias Mathimane. But Mathimane said he was optimistic that the new school would soon be ready at last.