Pretoria - The Department of Basic Education has condemned a Facebook post by Vytjie Mentor implicating Minister Angie Motshekga.
The department in a statement on Thursday said the Minister was horrified at the “blatant lies” being spread by Mentor via her social media page.
“The insinuation made by Mentor on her Facebook post that ‘R42b is missing in one financial year’ and that the ‘Minister’s child aged 22 drives a Lamborghini’ are both utter lies.
“These lies have absolutely no basis in the truth and are a weak attempt to besmirch the reputation of the Minister,” said the department.
Minister Motshekga not only condemns these lies in the strongest possible terms but has decided to instruct her lawyers to follow on this matter and sue Mentor for defamation of character.
The comments made by Mentor were accompanied by a picture of learners sitting at school desks outside in the open.
“We have asked the Eastern Cape Department of Education to investigate the circumstances of the picture and they have confirmed that it was Grade 10 learners.
“We have asked them to explain why such took place and action need to be taken against whoever was responsible and allowed such to occur as it is unacceptable for learners to be expected to learn under such conditions,” said the department.
The department explained that the picture was taken in the Libode district of the Eastern Cape - an area which has been the biggest beneficiary of the school build programme as it is a very rural area made up mostly of mud schools.
In a bid to eradicate mud schools and unsafe structures, to date 53 new state of the art schools have been built in the district through the Accelerated School Infrastructure Delivery Initiative (ASIDI) alone, and another ten are at various stages of implementation.
Last week the Minister handed over one of these new schools, Bungu JSS, over to the community of Libode.
“Government is working extremely hard to ensure that learners go to school in an environment that is conducive for learning and teaching.”
The ASIDI project seeks to replace all schools constructed out of inappropriate materials in their entirety such as mud, asbestos and plankie or wood.
The impact of ASIDI is far reaching as it is providing infrastructure that meets, and in cases exceeds, the minimum norms and standards for educational facilities in South Africa.
Besides the brick and mortar of these schools’ construction, ASIDI is also helping to restore dignity and pride to the education sector especially to those learners in rural and under privileged urban areas who were neglected by the previous government. - SAnews.gov.za
