The Sunday News
Sithatshisiwe Vuma, Sunday News Reporter
THE incessant rains experienced in the country this year delayed the opening of Vulindlela Primary School in Cowdray Park, with Bulawayo City Council (BCC) officials revealing that they had to redesign ablution facilities as they had been rendered unusable.
The school was built to decongest the four primary schools in the suburb, Tategulu, Mkhithika, Mgiqika and Cowdray Park. These schools have an average of 2 300 pupils each. According to the latest council report, the Department of Housing and Community Services had managed to construct two classroom blocks, ablution block, caretaker’s house, fencing of the site, and procurement of bulk materials for the classroom blocks since October 2019 under the Devolution Fund from the Government.
“After the rains no construction could take place on the site since the site and the area designated for the new blocks was inaccessible and the construction activities were not possible or advisable due to high-water levels. As such, material including perishables such as cement remained stored on site, though some were moved and replenished on other projects. Also, the septic tank, soak-away, sewer lines and manholes had flooded, including the immediate area surrounding the site”, reads the report.
It was further reported that the local authority had attempted to pump the water out, however, due to standing water at the area, the water level had not receded. The situation had rendered the toilets and ablution system unusable.
“Bulawayo City Council is afraid that if the situation persists, the safe and sanitary use of the facility might be negatively affected. In the absence of Municipal Sewer Reticulation in the area, the medium-term remedy might be to re-direct the sewer reticulation and construct an alternative Conservancy Tank for the school. Such action would imply deployment of additional financial resources for implementation,” BCC director of Housing and community services, Mr Dictor Khumalo is quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Cowdray Park Councilor Kidwell Mujuru said that they were waiting for the operation code from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to open the school.
“We will enroll students from ECD to grade four. Meanwhile, we are waiting for approval from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education,” he said.
