As load shedding continues to prove increasingly detrimental to South Africans, the latest numbers revealed by Education Minister Angie Motshekga show that only 310 out of almost 25 000 schools have generators.
Motshekga shared these numbers in response to a parliamentary question recently.
According to Motshekga’s response, there are 24 871 schools nationally, with 22 726 being public schools, however records show that only 310 have installed generators, 13 have uninterrupted power supply (UPS) devices and 19 have both installed at schools.
It was noted that some provinces were still in the process of collecting information on schools that have been installing generator, UPS and solar energy systems using school budgets.
With the information currently on hand, the Free State has 1 029 schools with only 24 with generators, Gauteng has 2 991 schools with only two schools with generators, KwaZulu-Natal has 6 021 schools with 51 with generators, eight with UPS devices and 10 with both.
Mpumalanga has 1 784 schools with 156 with generators, five with UPS devices and nine with both installed, Northern Cape has 586 schools with 11 with generators and North West has 1 548 schools and 66 with generators installed.
Information for the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and the Western Cape was still outstanding.
Earlier this month, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria handed down a ruling in favour of an application to have hospitals, clinics, schools and police stations exempted from load shedding.
ActionSA, the UDM, and 17 other political parties brought the application.
The court ruled that the Department of Public Works, in conjunction with or without other organs of state, must “within 60 days take all reasonable steps to provide uninterrupted electricity supply to all public health establishments, schools and SAPS stations across South Africa”.
However, President Cyril Ramaphosa warned that the grid will collapse if the government fully implemented the ruling.
He said the their appeal of the judgment was not based on arrogance, but on the advice of engineers that they cannot afford to stop implementing power cuts in the way they are doing it currently.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
Education