A total of 12 Jojo tanks were donated by the Patriotic Alliance (PA) in partnership with the Voice of Phoenix (VOP) to six schools in the areas that are affected by the ongoing water outages in the north of Durban.
The official handover at the various primary and secondary schools took place on Thursday, 16 May, and was marked with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The receiving schools were Lenham Primary, Brookdale Secondary, Northview Primary, Rustic Manor Primary, Sterngrove Primary and Woodview Secondary.
VOP spokesperson, Pastor Mervin Reddy, said: “When you visit at schools and see the pain that our children have been enduring for the past two years, you ask yourself what can I do to help them.”
He said it was a joy to see the excitement and jubilation of the children in the various schools.
“The schools may have received two Jojo tanks but the impact that it creates for the learners is humongous and enormous. These schools will be able to function without closing for an entire school day because there is an adequate supply of water to sustain them, and for that we want to thank Kenny Kunene, who came from Gauteng after hearing our cries and pleas as the Voice of Phoenix, to assist the community, more especially our schools and learners in Phoenix,” said Pst Reddy.
Deputy president of the Patriotic Alliance, Kenny Kunene said that the party puts education at the centre of what they want to achieve for this country. “I realised that the Voice of Phoenix was at the forefront of raising awareness on this humanitarian crisis of water in Phoenix and I reached out to them to set up a meeting at their offices. They explained to me in detail what the issues were and mentioned that six schools were in dire need of Jojo tanks. I did not have to consult anyone but immediately said we would deliver those jojo tanks and have done so in less than two weeks.
“When you are a leader of a political party, some things do not need politics, they are the heart of a parent and the spirit of Ubuntu. We cannot allow learners to be deprived of their education because somebody is not able to provide a basic need. Water is a basic need that people must not fight for. It is worse when young people are deprived of education because of the lack of water. It became emotional for me as I was going from school to school and hearing one of the principals saying ‘we do not have water as we speak’. It’s a great honour for us to be able to supply 12 Jojo tanks and thanks to the Voice of Phoenix for being the voice of the people of Phoenix,” added Kunene.
