The President of the Republic of South Africa, the Honourable Jacob Zuma will on Tuesday, 2 and Wednesday, 3 October 2012 officially hand over brand new schools to villages in Libode and Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape. The President will be accompanied by the Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga.
The schools, Mphathiswa Senior Primary School (Libode) and Dakhile Junior Secondary School (Lusikisiki) are part of the first batch of 49 mud schools identified and planned for replacement in 2012 through a Service Delivery Agreement with the Development Bank Southern Africa (DBSA), as part of the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Development Initiative (ASIDI). ASIDI aims to eradicate all mud schools and inappropriate structures, as well refurbish dilapidated and ill equipped schools.
The ASIDI National Outputs plan 2011/14 will see the eradication and replacement of 496 mud schools, provision of water and sanitation to 1 257 schools and electricity to 878 schools. A total of 12 450 learners in the districts of Libode, Lusikisiki and Mthatha will benefit from ASIDI.
Of the 16 contractors appointed to construct the 49 schools, 69 percent are based in the Eastern Cape. The project has created 2 829 temporary employment opportunities with the use of 109 SMMEs subcontracted for the project.
This will translate in the following:
| Summary of learning spaces | Total |
| No. of Classrooms for Refurbishment | 61 |
| No. of New Classrooms | 359 |
| No. of Grade R Classrooms | 60 |
| Total Classrooms | 480 |
| Temporary classes | 15 |
| Administration Blocks | 49 |
| Science Laboratory | 49 |
| Multi Media Centre (Library and Computer Lab) | 49 |
| Multipurpose class room | 49 |
A total of R8.2 billion has been budgeted for ASIDI for the period 2011 to 2014. R700 million is allocated for the 2011/12 financial year, R2.3 billion for the 2012/13 financial year and the remaining R5.2 billion is allocated for 2013/14. R420 million (60%) of the R700 million to budget allocated for the 2011/12 has been set aside to eradicate all mud schools in the Eastern Cape, and the remaining R280 million (40%) to fund for basic services necessary in schools.
All media is invited to join the President and Minister as follows:
Mphathiswa Senior Primary
Date: Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Time: 10h00 to 12h00
Venue: Mphathiswa Senior Primary, Libode
Dakhile Junior Secondary School
Date: Wednesday, 3 October 2012
Time: 09h00 to 11h00
Venue: Dakhile Junior Secondary School, Lusikisiki
