By Johnathan Paoli
The Democratic Alliance in Mpumalanga has successfully secured the provincial legislature’s approval for its motion calling for urgent action to support learners with special educational needs.
DA education spokesperson and MPL Annerie Weber said the motion presses the provincial education department to establish a task team dedicated to addressing the challenges faced by these learners and their families.
“Without immediate action, the failure to accommodate these learners in 2025 will have devastating consequences, exposing vulnerable children to societal risks while their parents are at work,” she warned.
Weber said that while the department’s 2024/2025 Annual Performance Plan outlined plans to form a task team to assess the financial and regulatory requirements for providing suitable infrastructure, staff, catering and hostel facilities for the learners, the DA was urging the department, under MEC Cathy Dlamini’s leadership, to expedite this process and implement solutions before the 2025 school year began.
Many learners with special educational needs across Mpumalanga are at risk of being stranded at home due to deteriorating hostel facilities, with the plight of Masinakane Special School in the Dr JS Moroka Local Municipality being emblematic of the broader crisis.
She said the school has struggled for years to secure proper boarding facilities, and after their previous building was condemned in 2022, a makeshift facility was erected with assistance from the DA and the SA Human Rights Commission.
However, this temporary solution accommodated only 45 of the 126 learners, leaving the remainder to sleep in classrooms.
Weber said the situation has worsened as the facility had become unsafe, and the Labour Department recently imposed a R700,000 fine on the school, putting its boarding services at risk of closure.
Similar challenges have affected Platorand School in Belfast, where privatising hostel facilities left many parents unable to afford the costs.
“Special needs learners rely on dedicated teaching, medical and hostel staff for their development and care,” Weber said.
Beyond infrastructure, the DA stresses the need for systemic reform to ensure that the constitutional right to education for special needs learners is upheld.
The party has urged the task team to engage with National Treasury once the costing and regulations are finalised to secure adequate funding for long-term improvements.
INSIDE EDUCATION
