By Yaseen Kippie

The Leadership College (TLC) has vowed to fight its closure through the courts, and says for now, it is not closing its doors. The future of the Cape Flats school hangs in the balance as the institution is facing an eviction order from its premises on 2 Kasouga Road, Manenberg. The order came from the Cape Town Child Welfare Society, the owners of the property. Many parents are anxious about the fate of their children, some of whom are struggling financially, and do not pay any fees at the fee-free school.

After weeks of silence on the matter, TLC director Mrs Ashra Norton, spoke to VOC News at the school on Monday. She explained that the Child Welfare Society leased the Manenberg premises to the school in 2012 with the full knowledge that there would a renewal after five years.

“The buillding was vacant and vandalised when we got it, and after multiple renovations we have added to it a tremendous amount of value,” she told VOC News.

In October 2016, TLC received a water bill from the Child Welfare Society for R1.2 million rand. Subsequent to an investigation on the matter, a major water leak was found underneath the school grounds.

“We refused to pay the bill because we had our suspicions, so we told them that we would deal with the council directly, which is when The Child Welfare Society served us a liquidation order,” Norton said.

The Council saw the case and both the liquidation order and the water bill of R1.2 million were dropped.

When TLC approached the Child Welfare Society in order to renew the lease, the monthly rent increased from R15 000 to R68 000, which according to Norton “would be unaffordable for the fee-free school.

After negotiations, the Child Welfare Society reduced the rent to R45 000 with the condition of claiming the containers on the premises and the non-renewal of any lease after 2017.

Despite the increased pressure on the school, Norton reiterated that they would not be shutting TLC down.

“We are not despondent, we are not closing TLC down, and we have managed to find alternative premises.”

There has also been an exponential increase in the number of learners at the school. Prior to 2012, TLC held its classes at the Jordaan Street Mosque in Manenberg with close to 100 learners. Five years later, and the number of learners has reached 792.

With the Kasouga Road premises holding only a third of all TLC learners, the school has called on community members not to worry but to continue their support which has yielded tangible outcomes, including graduates studying at universities across the Western Cape.

“Two of our girls, both of whom are huffaaz, are studying Medicine at UCT and Stellenbosch University. We’ve got students now doing Chartered Accounting, Actuarial Sciences, Robotics and Mathematical Sciences, etc.”

The Leadership College was also the recipient of a certificate as the top feeder school for 2016 by TIBA.

“In our primary school, we give cereal and a sandwich for breakfast and lunch. We also give lunch to our older students. We give our learners blazers and ties, so that they feel good and look good. We feel they deserve what any other learner deserves on the other side of the train line.”

With an overall budget of R12.5 million needed, and assistance from the Department of Education for R6.2 million, there is still R6.3 million rand needed. Annual food fairs and eat-and-treats serve as fundraising events for The Leadership College, but do not bring sufficient funds for the maintenance of the school.

The Western Cape Education Department’s spokesperson Jessica Shelve said the department will continue to provide the subsidy should the school be able to provide evidence of a 12-month lease in addition to other criteria.

Norton comments on the main source of sustainable funding.

“We have started a debit order system. There is a lot of blessings in the local funding, even for R100 per month from community members. Smaller donors are more often the sustainable donors and our learners are liable for Zakah as 85% of them are SASSA grant holders.”

The current eviction order is being taken to the Western Cape High Court, which Norton says has brought more financial burdens upon the school. The case is scheduled to have a hearing on the 21st June. VOC