Parents of children at Bulelani High School outside Komani in the Eastern Cape protested last week, demanding the removal of the principal.

Parents at Bulelani High School outside Komani in the Eastern Cape say they will protest until the school principal is fired.

Principal Zine May was suspended towards the end of 2024 following allegations of misuse of school funds. An acting principal was appointed.

But, said parent Pumza Kalipa, May returned to the school during the 2025 end-of-year exams, without any explanation from the department.

“We contacted the department and officials came to the school. We were told that May was found guilty of misconduct and had served her punishment, which is why she returned,” she said.

“As parents, we made it very clear that we do not want her back at our school.We have been complaining about her since 2018,” she said.

On Monday 19 January parents staged a protest, disrupting classes and burning rubbish, demanding May’s removal. Kalipa said this followed the department’s failure to respond to a petition sent by parents last November.

The protest ended on Wednesday 21 January after the department agreed to temporarily remove May.

Eastern Cape Department of Education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima did not respond to questions about the investigation into May’s conduct. But he said parents had “asked the department to keep the principal at the district offices until the matter is resolved”.

On Tuesday 27 January department officials came to the school to address parents. May was not present. Parents said they did not want her back.

Nkosinathi Godlo, Chris Hani East District Director, told parents that they had decided to keep May away from the school until the matter is resolved. He confirmed that she had been found guilty of misusing school funds and said she had been fined. Godlo did not disclose the amount.

Parent Sandile Mthandeki said parents had taken a decision not to allow her back to their school.

“There’s no relationship between us parents and her,” he said.

The meeting, which lasted close to four hours, ended after Godlo assured parents that the matter was being attended to and that an acting principal would be appointed in the meantime.

Asked for comment, May asked GroundUp to contact her next week. She said tomorrow is her birthday and she just wanted to enjoy her day and not waste time commenting on schemes or plots against her.

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Residents of Komani (formerly Queenstown) marched to the municipal offices on Wednesday to demand that their electricity meters be unblocked. The municipality has blocked the meters until residents settle their municipal debt.

• Residents of Komani marched to the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality offices on Wednesday to protest about blocked electricity meters.
• Addressing the protesters, Mayor Madoda Papiyana said the meters would not be unblocked until residents had settled their debt.
• Protesters said they had suddenly received huge bills.
• The municipality acknowledged that some people had not been receiving municipal bills regularly.
• The municipality owes R1-billion to Eskom.

Komani residents marched to the municipal offices on Wednesday to protest against electricity cut-offs. But Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality Mayor Madoda Papiyana told residents he would not unblock their electricity meters until they had settled their debts to the municipality.

Residents of Mlungisi, Komani Central and Ezibeleni want the municipality to unblock electricity meters so that they can purchase prepaid electricity. They say they have struggled to buy electricity since the beginning of this year.

They say when they asked for clarity at the municipal offices they were told that their meters had been blocked because they owed money to the municipality and that the meters would only be unblocked once the debt was paid.

Some residents say they were told they owe the municipality more than R50,000.

Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality spokesperson Lonwabo Kowa said the municipality is implementing its credit control policy, which he described as a standard practice across municipalities to ensure rates are paid so that services can be rendered.

Kowa acknowledged that some residents had not received their rates bills which are sent via email or sms. He said the municipality does not have correct details for everyone. Residents had been asked to visit municipal offices to update their details.

He confirmed that similar actions had been taken in various areas of Enoch Mgijima, including Khayelitsha.

He said residents whose meters were blocked could make minimum payments to have services restored and could enter into payment agreements with the municipality.

Indigent households had been registered in line with the municipality’s indigent policy, and qualifying households received relief.

Residents who had missed registration should come forward, he said.

Nomathamsanqa Makhowa, 62, said she had been without electricity for two weeks. She said when she enquired at the municipality, she was told she owes R5,000. “I told them I don’t have R5,000 because I only survive on an old-age grant. I was told to pay at least R500 every month towards the debt,” she said.

Makhowa said she had to borrow R500 from a loan shark. “What the municipality is doing is not fair, and there was no notice. We can’t buy electricity,” she said.

Most people who attended the march were elderly. Some had to hire vehicles because they could not walk far.

Pumelele Ntwana, 67, said she received a bill of more than R200,000 late last year.

“When I went to enquire, I was told to pay at least 10%. As a family, we managed to raise R10,000 and paid it. We cannot pay more because I’m not working and my husband is 74 years old and also not working,” said Ntwana.

The marchers delivered a memorandum to the mayor demanding the immediate unblocking of electricity meters, the suspension of “unlawful credit control”, and the issuing of correct statements.

There was a tense exchange between residents and Papiyana after he questioned whether those attending the march had been sent by others or were representing themselves.

Residents were also angered when he reprimanded one elderly woman, saying she was too forward.

Papiyana said cases would be handled individually. “If your electricity meter number is blocked, you must go to the finance department to find out why,” he said.

Kowa said the municipality is rolling out 35,000 smart electricity meters to improve service delivery and reduce losses. So far, 15,000 meters have been installed.

He said the municipality owes Eskom more than R1-billion.

There were tense exchanges between Mayor Madoda Papiyana and the protesters.

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The South African Human Rights Commission visited Van Coller Primary in Komani, Eastern Cape, on Monday to inspect conditions at the school.

This follows a GroundUp report that parents protested and forced the school to close after its toilets had not functioned for six years. Learners have been relieving themselves on the playground. The school has more than 500 learners from grades R to 7.

Eastern Cape legal officer Brandon Ainslie said the commission will continue monitoring the situation.

“I spoke with the principal and parents who were present, and I also walked around the school to observe the conditions firsthand,” said Ainslie. “While I cannot provide a full report at this stage as the investigation is ongoing, I witnessed two girls and two boys relieving themselves in the playground, in full view of others. I also observed poor conditions in the toilets, including a lack of running water and sinks without taps.”

Parents told GroundUp that the education department had promised for three years to fix the toilets.

Learners returned to school on Monday since the shutdown last week. This follows ongoing repairs to the toilets with some toilets now unblocked and being shared by boys and girls. Access to the toilets is being monitored by a kitchen staff member.

“We did not want to keep our children at home for too long because we don’t want them to miss lessons,” said parent Bulelani Qowa.

Qowa said last week it was decided to use the school maintenance budget to repair the toilets. He said they were also waiting for the Chris Hani District Municipality to resolve problems with the water supply.

Provincial education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said the school received R28,629 for maintenance in 2025 but not a cent was spent. The school budget this year was R53,990. He said the department will send auditors to the school because there were complaints about a lack of transparency by school management.

At a meeting last week with teachers and parents, he said, complaints included broken windows, classrooms without doors, exposed electricity cables, uncut grass and a lack of fencing.

He said the Department of Public Works was contacted for assistance with some of these issues.

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