What started as a protest against the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma sparked, what some call, the worst cases of violence and rioting in post-apartheid South Africa.
Shopping centres, businesses and even residential homes were invaded, looted and destroyed during the unrest. Golden Steps, a school built for intellectually impaired learners, was not spared. According to the principal, Anesh Singh, the total damage to the school is estimated to be well over R5 million. However, since then many have gotten on board to help restore the school with community members and sponsors rallying behind getting fully up and running. Singh said he was devastated to hear about the tragedy that transpired but that his faith has been restored by the spirit of Ubuntu being shown through the donations and support being received. He said: “I’ve been the principal at this school for 21 years and served the community of Cottonlands for the past 33 years. Our school is old but we always did our best to maintain it.
From the gardens to the facilities. We took great pride to ensure our learners were given the best opportunities so that they could be integrated into mainstream society indiscriminately.” Singh said over the years the school managed to gain a number of success stories. “We were placed first in the 2017/2018 EduPlant competition and we are the current winners of the eThekwini and KwaZulu-Natal provincial Green School award.” After the looting doors, gate locks and window panes had to be replaced which cost an estimate of R100 000. They also needed to compensate for the CCTV cameras, cold room motors, a kitchen industrial extractor, tiles and other assets. “We also had just taken delivery of a brand-new bus. It was specially adapted to the needs of our children. It was valued at R3.2 million. The bus was stripped of everything they could get – TVs, speakers and other tools used to assist the learners. It didn’t even get the chance to transport a single learner.”
Singh said the school is currently fully operational, however, due to transport constraints many leaners are unable to make their way to school. “Currently we only have one bus transporting our learners and it has to cover a 50 kilometre radius.” The principal described the perpetrators as “misguided opportunists” who attacked without proper reason but is extremely grateful for the support from local businesses and the general public. “Through the generosity of our sponsors and donors we managed to restore a lot of the school. We greatly appreciate their ongoing support. The community is up in arms about what happened and their support has been really overwhelming as well. The community is familiar with the school and the kind of service we provide. From working with community leaders I understand the community is very upset and want to do whatever they can to assist.” He concluded by saying the transformation of the school will be “something beyond what we previously had” and will continue to provide the best possible service to the community. “Work is worship and duty is God,” said Singh.
