Kholwane Primary closed temporarily
KHOLWANE – Kholwane Primary School was temporarily closed yesterday when Education Undersecretary, who doubles as Schools Manager, Macanjana Motsa served all of the teachers with letters of dismissal.
Even the principal, Simangele Mmema, who is also SNAT Sub Editor was fired. Accompanying Motsa was Inspector of Schools in the Manzini Region Philip Mamba and an official Knowledge Ngwenya.
Mamba first addressed the pupils and told them to go home because the ministry was still in a process of rectifying some things at the school.
"You will come back on Tuesday next week to continue learning," he said.
However, none of the pupils were prepared to go without their daily food ration which had already been prepared by the school cook.
Motsa then convened a meeting with the teachers in a classroom where she gave them their letters. Two plain clothes police officers told the Times reporters that they were unwelcome at the school and told them to leave before the meeting.
However, after receiving the letters, the teachers sang the song Uzube Nam Lang’fayo Ngiyacela Nkosi Yam (Lord please be with me when I die).
They sang the song within the school verandah while bemused pupils watched.
Committee chairperson, inspector clash
KHOLWANE – The School Committee Chairperson at Kholwane Primary School Mbongeni Tfwala clashed with Inspector of Schools Philip Mamba, when the chairman demanded to address pupils at the school.
Mamba had just told the pupils to go home, emphasising that the school was not closed as they would return on Tuesday.
However, Tfwala stopped the pupils from leaving and attempted to address them, while Mamba was addressing the dismissed teachers.
A police officer noticed this and went to inform Mamba that Tfwala was now addressing pupils. It was then that Mamba rushed to the arena and told Tfwala to stop it. "I said the pupils must go home. There is no need to address them now."
In an interview, Tfwala said he wanted to tell the pupils what they must report to their parents at home.
He also said government was wrong to have dismissed the teachers without consulting the school committee.
COMMENTS:
Goodness me! You would expect inspectors as government bureaucrats to be professional in their work but to act in such vigilante style and ignore all procedures is just unpardonable. How do you close schools without consulting parents or at least the school committee as representatives of parents? Have they ever read the school committee constitution, an institution established by government gazette? Does this include part of their job description? God help us all!
December 8, 2011, 3:00 am, Sagila Dlamini (sagila1982@gmail.com)
Now the Tinkhundla Government means business. I will vote them back come 2013. In any situation, we need decisiveness. Kholwane has never progressed under the leadership of Mmema, because she's never at school at any given time. We as parents have struggled and we send our children to school because they will get sdonono because we are the poorest of the poor, with the highest rate of orphans. Even our MP has not been helpful as we read everyday about his own challenges, like greeting the king of the courts everyday! But all in all, thank you Tinkhundla, let us start afresh and get dedicated teachers. Lozinjonjo.
December 8, 2011, 3:00 am, Solomon Kunene (sollyk@ gmail.com)
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