JOHANNESBURG - Slovoville Primary School has become a health hazard.
It was opened in 2014 by former Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi.
Nine years later, parts of the school, including the sports ground and play area, have been fenced off after being flooded by wastewater from a mine owned by Harmony Gold.
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Ward 53 councillor Ntshavheni Mutavhatsindi said, "the smell is affecting our people very badly. Because some of the people, if you look at our clinic from Monday to Friday, they are full of people that come in coughing and some have lung infections."
"So, we have a problem. A very huge problem. And it’s going to develop through our kids that are attending school here."
"Because remember this is not a high school. It’s a primary school. So, anything that is going to affect those kids, we might see it in a long run. Not today but in a long run we will see that the damage and the smell of this water is affecting our kids.”
The councillor says numerous attempts have been made to contact Harmony Gold, but it continues to shift blame.
Meanwhile, the school and its pupils continue to suffer.
Mutavhatsindi said, "I want to see the water drained fully. Not this thing that the mine has been doing by shifting the blame to Mogale City or Joburg Water or Rand Water. That Is not how it’s supposed to be."
"The mine must take the responsibility and come and drain the water because that water is affecting our community, our school, our young people that are supposed to attend the school. "
"They cannot attend the school freely because they have gates all over the school. The kids cannot play sports in the ground because of the water.”