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Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
NXELE villagers in Mangwe District have pooled resources to build a primary school. The school started operating this month. Children from the area had to walk about 15 kilometres through a bushy area to reach the nearest school. Mangwe Rural District Council Chief Executive Officer, Nketha Mangoye Dlamini, said Nxele Primary School, which was opened at beginning of this month accommodated Early Childhood Development (ECD), Grade 1 and Grade 2 learners. He said efforts were underway to expand the school.

“The Nxele community has managed to mobilise its own resources and villagers have constructed two classroom blocks with one classroom each. The school opened recently with ECD pupils, Grade 1 and Grade 2 pupils. Pupils have been walking about 15 kilometres to reach Ezimnyama Primary School which was the nearest school. The community is now working on increasing the number of these classroom blocks so that more learners can be accommodated there,” said Dlamini.

He said the school was operating as an annexure of Ezimnyama Primary School.
Dlamini said the school, which is located close to Plumtree Border Post, would also assist children around the border complex as they were travelling 10 kilometres to get to the nearest school in Plumtree. The local authority was urging villagers to moot their own community development projects.

“Our emphasis as a local authority is that communities should mobilise their own resources and not wait for government to hand them funds or donors to assist them.

Instead they must all make contributions because these projects do not benefit an individual or household but the entire community,” he said.

“It’s a positive development that the community of Nxele has realised the need of a school and they have gone on to implement the project.

“If they continue as a united front, this school will be completed soon.”
Local councillor, Sakhile Ndlovu, said construction of the school came as a huge relief as a number of parents were withdrawing their children from school because of the long distances.