School gates at the Chumani Primary School in Reeston township in East London remained closed on Thursday as tensions between parents, the school governing body, and deputy principals spilled over into yet another day.
The internal squabbles led to a complete halt of schooling on Wednesday and no schooling activities have taken place.
Parents and SGB members are against the appointment of two deputy principals who were hired in December 2017.
They believe they were appointed without following due processes.
On Wednesday, parents at the school held an education development officer hostage while demanding that the school’s office key be returned by the deputy principal, who allegedly left with them after a fallout during a parents’ meeting on Monday.
On Thursday, the SGB sent children home as the gates remained locked, and said no activities would resume until the key to the office containing the school’s resources was brought back.
Parents and SGB members stood outside the gates for hours in hope that an official from the department of education would attend to them, but this never happened.
Thembakazi Tilese, a parent at the school, said they did not want the “backdoor appointments of the deputy principals”.
“We don’t want them. We want teachers who have been here for years and are better qualified for these posts.
“We have our own HODs here. We don’t want these deputies,” she said.
Tilese said on Wednesday they held the education officer hostage because they wanted the keys to be released.
SGB member Yonti Yabi said: “We just want this school to be governed transparently.
“When we asked the deputy principal for the 2018 financial report and this year’s plan and budget she just stormed out.
“If the district department of education doesn’t respond to our calls, we will take this nationally.”
Questions sent to department of education spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani had not been answered at the time of writing. On Wednesday, the department said they had undertaken measures to resolve the matter...