Chairperson, I want to thank Ms Makgate for raising this issue. The Sithembele Matiso Secondary School, situated in New Road, Gugulethu, is one of the 109 high-risk schools identified by the Western Cape department of education. A risk assessment was conducted by the department of education in the Western Cape education, safety and management unit.
The following infrastructure and safety measures are in place: The school fence consists of a solid steel palisade and is in good condition. The school also has palisade fencing between the various block sections. With regard to windows, they are fully secured and some of the windows are fitted with burglar bars and others with mesh stone guards. With regard to doors, all the classroom doors are fitted with steel safety glass. The entrance to the administration building is fitted with safety gates, and all corridors and entrances are secured. The school has an alarm system that is linked to armed response, and it is part of the closed-circuit television, cctv, pilot, which is fitted with 26 cameras, including pan, tilt and zoom cameras on a nine-metre mast on the perimeter.
The Western Cape department of education has, through partnership with the department of community safety, deployed five school safety volunteers at the school who assist with access control and patrol the school perimeter and hotspots on the playground, as identified by the school safety committee.
What we can say to you is that we share in the loss experienced by the school and the community. The Minister of Basic Education, the Deputy Minister of Basic Education and the Deputy Minister of Police visited the school, and we also had an opportunity to visit the family.
It does appear that even if you have the best measures in terms of safety, there is an important dimension that we tend to ignore, ie that of conflict management, values and attitudes that are so critical in ensuring that we create a safe environment that is conducive to learning. Thank you.