LETTER: Farm school offers hope to Die Poort community
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While everyone is preoccupied by staving off the dangers of Covid-19, frightened by a clutter of sad news about shuttered world economies, increased unemployment and thousands of fatalities as a result of the pandemic, it is encouraging to notice that amid the doom and gloom there is a reason to be cheerful.
The recent handover of the Die Poort Farm Primary School in Hekpoort by the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development, together with the Gauteng department of education and other stakeholders, provided a glimmer of hope to the farming community of Die Poort and the neighbouring farms. Farm schools lack resources because they are built on privately owned land belonging to the farmer, which makes it difficult for the government to intervene.
The fact that the land on which the school is built was donated by the farmer is progressive in that it provided both departments the leeway to act in demolishing mud structures that were used as classrooms, to build a state-of-the-art building that has all the trappings of a well-resourced school. For me the building of a school on a farm that is privately owned has far-reaching implications.
First, the farmer acted benevolently and progressively by voluntarily giving away the piece of land on which the school is built, showing that he acknowledged the importance of the education of the children whose parents work for him. This avoided the lengthy process of invoking section 14 of the SA Schools Act, which allows the government to expropriate any portion of the land on which a school has to be built.
I wish all farmers could see this as an example, to give away portions of land on their farms to allow the government to intervene not only in building schools but also setting up proper human settlements.
This is also provided for by the Labour Tenants Act, which allows labour tenants to acquire land portions on farms where they reside. Beside empowering labour tenants by allocating land to them, this enables them to get access to municipal services such as clean water, sanitation and electricity, which have proved difficult to access on privately owned land.
Themba Mzula Hleko — department of agriculture, land reform and rural development
Rosslyn Gardens
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The recent handover of the Die Poort Farm Primary School in Hekpoort by the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development, together with the Gauteng department of education and other stakeholders, provided a glimmer of hope to the farming community of Die Poort and the neighbouring farms. Farm schools lack resources because they are built on privately owned land belonging to the farmer, which makes it difficult for the government to intervene.
The fact that the land on which the school is built was donated by the farmer is progressive in that it provided both departments the leeway to act in demolishing mud structures that were used as classrooms, to build a state-of-the-art building that has all the trappings of a well-resourced school. For me the building of a school on a farm that is privately owned has far-reaching implications.
First, the farmer acted benevolently and progressively by voluntarily giving away the piece of land on which the school is built, showing that he acknowledged the importance of the education of the children whose parents work for him. This avoided the lengthy process of invoking section 14 of the SA Schools Act, which allows the government to expropriate any portion of the land on which a school has to be built.
I wish all farmers could see this as an example, to give away portions of land on their farms to allow the government to intervene not only in building schools but also setting up proper human settlements.
This is also provided for by the Labour Tenants Act, which allows labour tenants to acquire land portions on farms where they reside. Beside empowering labour tenants by allocating land to them, this enables them to get access to municipal services such as clean water, sanitation and electricity, which have proved difficult to access on privately owned land.
Themba Mzula Hleko — department of agriculture, land reform and rural development
Rosslyn Gardens
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to ...
