Cape Town is really a tale of two cities - the rich and prosperous side of the previously advantaged and the poor and desperate side of the previously disadvantaged. It was announced recently that the DA Western Cape MEC for Education, Mr Donald Grant, is to establish a safety and security plan for pupils and teachers who are to be relocated to the gang-infested Cape Flats next year, following the ill-conceived plan of the closure of 20 schools by the DA-run province.
On the other side of the mountain, those learners from previously advantaged communities are free, safe and apparently completely unaffected by the plight of their fellow learners who now have to add their safety to a list of added challenges they face daily.
The apparent justification for the closure of the schools, seemingly, is that they were old buildings; there was poor performance; and had fewer pupil numbers, which seems to have bulldozed through the DA's plan to further entrench inequalities in this province. It is cold comfort to now appear concerned about the wellbeing of the relocated teachers and pupils by devising some security plan for their safety. The fact that they should not have been put in harm's way in the first place seems to completely escape the DA. Thank you, hon Speaker.