![\"How](\"http:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/schoolbefore06.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n
And although it is one of six in the city which have been left abandoned, the provincial Education Department says it is only aware of three such vacant schools.<\/p>\n
The school was closed down earlier this year after pupils were relocated to the Tyilulwazi Secondary School.<\/p>\n
The other schools standing vacant are Khumbulani High in Sydenham, DDT Jabavu in Motherwell, Masangwana Primary in New Brighton, KwaNobuhle\u2019s Mlungisi Perfector and VW Kwinana in Khayelitsha.<\/p>\n
The looting of Gqebera High has angered many residents, with some saying they had fought to keep the school open, only to see it reduced to nothing in a matter of weeks.<\/p>\n
A 22-year-old former pupil, who only identified himself as Sbonda, said they had marched a number of times to try to save the school before it was closed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s painful seeing it reduced to this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the years, some of the teachers even put their own money into the school to keep it running and we even had to sleep in the school computer labs while it was open to prevent break-ins.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understood that there were only a few pupils but that was not the point.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to prevent people from taking away the pieces of the school, but you can\u2019t stand alone in front of a thousand people because you will be putting your life in danger,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Kholisile Bobi, 49, said it was frustrating to see people looting the school, even though there was almost nothing left to steal anymore.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy child went to that school so it is heartbreaking to see this.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the school closed down, we saw people from Veeplaas stripping it down.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would hear sounds and see people busy in the middle of the night while we slept. So residents got frustrated and also started stripping the school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fezekile Grootboom, 42, said people started stealing computers before the school closed down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community contributed greatly to the vandalism.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople would just wake up on a random day and decide they needed bricks for projects and go get them.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven my next door neighbours\u2019 new paving is made from those materials.\u201d<\/p>\n
While some of the residents have built or added on to their properties with the material, others are selling it to make a quick buck.<\/p>\n
Prense Hando, 20, and Thandolwethu Mangesi, 18, said they had made more than R5000 just selling cables and door frames in the past few weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take the material and sell it to people from KwaDwesi extension, Zwide, Veeplaas and Uitenhage,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Political party leaders have slammed the Education Department for \u201crunning the school into the ground\u201d.<\/p>\n
The department, however, said it had been in the process of deregistering the school from its assets and handing it over to the Public Works Department.<\/p>\n
DA shadow MEC for education Edmund van Vuuren said he was not surprised that the vacant schools were being stripped down. \u201cThe department ran the Gqebera School into the ground. But I am not surprised because it is notorious for bad planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are good people in the department, but the majority are not good enough to manage and make sure that things are going well.\u201d<\/p>\n
ANC regional secretary Zandisile Qupe said it was unfortunate that residents had stripped the school instead of using it for other purposes. \u201cThere is a lack of understanding from the residents on how best to use a vacant school.\u201d<\/p>\n
UDM provincial leader Mongameli Bobani said the fact that vacant schools were often reduced to ruins showed that the department was not serious about education.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a waste of taxpayers\u2019 money for the government not to care about the buildings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Education spokesman Malibongwe Mtima said the department was only aware of three vacant school buildings in Port Elizabeth. \u201cWe are aware of Gqebera, Khumbulani and DDT Jabavu that are vacant.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said before a school was vacated, there was always consultation with the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are two ways a building goes vacant,\u201d Mtima said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirstly, rationalisation \u2013 where schools merge with other schools or when the structure is no longer safe to accommodate pupils.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecondly, urbanisation or relocation of the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire process of deregistering a building includes public hearings with the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ask them if they are in dire need of the building and if not, we hand it over to Public Works. \u201cThe community makes submissions and we then choose the best application.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mtima said the department was in the process of deregistering Gqebera and handing it over to Public Works.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe process is \u2026 in the final stages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Public Works regional director Johan van Dyk said Gqebera High had not officially been handed over to the department.<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore there\u2019s basically nothing we can do.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recently reported an issue to the police where 30 people broke down and stole roof tiles from Gqebera High School.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn cases like these, police just shrug their shoulders, knowing that the culprits would get arrested today and do the same thing tomorrow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Police spokesman Dumile Gwavu said three people had been arrested and later released for possession of stolen property from Gqebera last month, when one truck and two bakkies filled with building materials were confiscated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the school stood vacant for the entire year, residents saw an opportunity to steal the school building materials and as soon as they see police, they leave the premises and return again later.\u201d<\/p>\n
While buildings such as Masangwana, Gqebera and Khumbulani are completely destroyed, others are either used for soup kitchens, Love Life gatherings or occupied by the homeless.<\/p>\n
Mzamo Qashani, 32, who lives in front of Masangwana Primary, said people in the area had started making off with building material as soon as they heard it had been shut down for good. \u2013 Nomazima Nkosi, Yonela Mgwali and Chanice Koopman of the PE Herald<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ‘There is a lack of understanding from the residents on how best to use a vacant school’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2961,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[34,4288,9575,12250,256],"class_list":["post-16783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-south-africa","tag-crime","tag-port-elizabeth","tag-school","tag-south-africa","tag-theft"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2961"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16786,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16783\/revisions\/16786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}