Despite the devastating impact of a tornado in June 2024, Seatides Combined School is demonstrating remarkable resilience. The school was the focus of an oversight frontline monitoring visit on Wednesday by the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), eThekwini municipality, and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) as part of the department’s Frontline Monitoring and Support Programme. The visit aimed to assess the school opening process, identify challenges, and offer encouragement to staff and learners who have coped with immense trauma.

The delegation first visited Sithokozile Secondary School, which achieved 100% in the National Senior Certificate exams in 2025.

DPME Minister Maropene Ramokgopa said their visit served a dual purpose: primarily, it was part of the back-to-school campaign. However, the main objective was to conduct frontline monitoring of the school opening process.

This included assessing the school’s management performance, offering encouragement to both learners and staff, and, crucially, identifying any challenges. Furthermore, they aimed to learn about the successes that could be replicated in other contexts.

She said Sithokozile has infrastructure challenges. Their role is frontline monitoring, meaning they assess the situation in advance. This preparation is crucial so that when they bring in leadership, such as the minister, they already have a strategy for resolution and know exactly which resources and personnel to bring with them.

She said the same for Seatides Combined School. Going to the school, they already knew the challenges. Therefore, they were able to interact with the department so they could come and answer some of the questions posed by the school ass thy want it to be successful.

“It is an ongoing process of ensuring that our schools are managed properly and we create centres of excellence,” Ramokgopa said.

“Our frontline monitoring department has been here, and it continues to be here. So what we are going to be doing is to monitor the progress of what has been raised in terms of the renovations that are needed, and in the other school in terms of, of course, the challenges that they may be having.” 

NYDA chairperson Dr Sunshine Myende said they witnessed a story of resilience at Seatides Combined School. 

“This is a school that was affected by a tornado back in 2024. This is a class that was able to cope with traumas and their different experiences. The tornado might have happened at the school, but even in their homes, where they reside, so that could have affected them immensely,” Myende said. 

Seatides Combined School acting principal Ruvandhiran Naidoo said they are happy with the progress they have made. 

“Of concern to us are the two blocks that are still to be reconstructed, which served our foundation phase. The plant here doesn’t have too much space. It’s a bit congested, so we need our foundation phase learners to have that area, that space on the top there, and I’m hoping that this department visit will help speed up the completion of those two blocks on that side,” Ruvandhiran said. 

School Governing Body chairperson Jonathan Naidoo said it has been a long road with rough terrain, but together with the governing body, community and previous principal, Kola Govender, they managed to locate private donors. 

“For the last 18 months, we’ve been trying to secure donors, facilitate the bills, and get the main building back in running order. We’ve got it to a point where it’s 90% complete, and our kids are housed in the new facility as of January 14, this year,” Jonathan said. 

“We’ve done a lot of work. We’ve worked tirelessly, and I think our reward is to see the kids’ smiles when they walk into the classrooms for the first day.” 

thobeka.ngema@inl.co.za

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