R320 000 Renovation Impacts Disadvantaged KwaMashu High School
A KwaMashu High School ravaged by repeated vandalism in the past has been given a new lease on life following an injection of R320 000 for a major infrastructure overhaul.
The renovation initiative followed an intervention at JE Ndlovu High School, located in KwaMashu and within the urban fringes of Durban, by the South African Muslim Charitable Trust (SAMCT).
Addressing a function to celebrate the school’s new beginning, SAMCT representative, Mr Gaf Osman, said: “This was an educational institution which suffered much damage at the hands of vandals in past years; damage which left it is a state of severe disrepair. Such a state of affairs is simply not conducive to effective teaching or learning.”
He said it was difficult to understand why people would vandalise places of learning when South Africa is ‘crying out’ for better education and better educated young people. “Our young people will one day be responsible for taking South Africa forward. How will this be possible if schools continue being vandalised or, worse, destroyed? Such actions harm the very people for whom a good education is so vital,” he added. Mr Gaf Osman stressed: “To its great credit, JE Ndlovu High School, its Principal and its staff have shown great resilience in the face of such adversity, rising above intolerable conditions to deliver the sort of education our young people deserve. This is a school with great potential, opening the door to becoming a centre of educational excellence within this community. This is due, to a large extent, to the commitment, dedication and determination of the school’s Principal and Management Team.”
He said their combined passion for education and a brighter future for the learners they serve, in spite of the dilapidated conditions with which they have had to contend, was to be applauded. “They have made great strides towards turning the fortunes of this school around, introducing security which has put a stop to previously and regularly experienced burglaries, and working
tirelessly to improve the school’s infrastructure and improving learner ability, both academically and socially.
Infrastructural development is, however, a massive and daunting task and one which was always going to require additional support to bring the school up to an acceptable standard of operation, given the electrical, fencing and plumbing requirements,” Mr Gaf Osman added.
The SAMCT was created in 2008, the result of a partnership between Old Mutual Unit Trusts and Al Baraka Bank for the creation, marketing and distribution of a suite of Shariah Funds. This partnership ensures that the SAMCT is the beneficiary of these Shariah-compliant funds so as to provide funding, services and other resources for improving the lives of the vulnerable, deprived and disadvantaged. The organisation has been singularly successful in delivering sizeable assistance solutions throughout South Africa – irrespective of race or religion – and continues to work to support needy organisations in the fields of health, social development, poverty alleviation and education. 
“In light of strides already made by the school, the South African Muslim Charitable Trust was only too pleased to intercede, assisting in the effort to improve conditions here for the benefit of both the school staff and the learners in their professional care. In this regard, we were pleased to provide R320 000 to introduce electricity to the 24 classrooms, shedding improved light on the
teaching process, whilst also adding to the security of the school via new fencing and improving hygiene here with the provision of additional toilet facilities for learners,” Mr Gaf Osman said. Concluding, Mr Gaf Osman said: “The repairs and renovations we have facilitated here constitute but a small contribution towards addressing the myriad of socio-economic challenges facing our country, but I hope that – small as it might be – it will make a tremendous difference to future development of this particular school, its learners and the surrounding community.” ends
For more information about SAMCT or
its JE Ndlovu High School infrastructural restoration initiative, please contact:
Rasheeda Motala
Social Responsibility Officer
Tel: 084 506 2280
Email: samct@samct.co.za