By Levy Masiteng
Learners in Beaufort West are expected to return to classrooms on Thursday after the Western Cape Education Department confirmed that all schools in the town will reopen following a temporary closure caused by a severe municipal water crisis.
“All schools will be open on Thursday, 10 September,” the department announced on Wednesday.
The reopening followed the closure of 12 public ordinary schools in the town on Monday and Tuesday because of a municipal water outage.
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The water crisis was triggered by heavy flooding of the Gamka River on Friday, 4 September, which damaged parts of Beaufort West’s main water supply infrastructure.
The damage left the municipality struggling to provide a reliable water supply to residents and public institutions.
The situation was serious enough to affect almost 10,000 learners across the 12 affected schools, according to reports at the time of the closure.
Beaufort West’s schools are currently in the third term of the 2026 academic year, which is scheduled to run until 23 September.
