Hon Deputy Chairperson, I appreciate the response from the Deputy Minister. However, there are concurrent powers in education, and you are saying you have the power to advise this same Western Cape province in regard to infrastructure.
The information that I have submitted is current as of February, and I was given this information by the communities and the labour organisations there. Because they believed I represented the interests of the provinces and in a previous life I belonged to the SA Democratic Teachers' Union, Sadtu, they asked me to raise these things. They are there.
So, what I ask the Minister to do, as they are saying that they have plans to build schools, is to prioritise the building of those schools. There is a complaint. Could the department go there and hold izimbizo? They will hear this coming from the people, demanding or wanting more schools.
The Department of Basic Education should also engage with other departments, such as the Department of Social Development. The reason for that is that when those learners exit Grade 7 they don't get accepted because the schools are full - these four high schools are full already. So they become dropouts and they smoke drugs such as nyaope, tik and all those things. This is not of their own will, so we appeal, Minister, that you do not just rely on information given, but you also visit them as part of your oversight role. Thank you.