EC school given 24hrs to provide details on alleged rape incident or face closure

JOHANNESBURG - A primary school in the Eastern Cape has been given 24 hours to provide details on an alleged rape incident at the school or face closure.

The Bergview College in the Alfred Nzo District has been accused of not cooperating with authorities in the investigation.

It's alleged that a seven-year-old learner was violated on the school grounds last year.

The provincial education department said that efforts to get more information from the school about the incident had failed.

As a result, the department said it had grounds to close the school over safety concerns

Department spokesperson Vuyiseka Mboxele said that should the school be closed, learners would have to be placed at nearby schools.

"The school must be deregistered if it does not want to cooperate with the South African Police Services, and the reason why is that Bergview College is an independent college in Alfred Nzo, so their own way of operation is a bit different to public schools, which are solely dependent on government. Their independence makes them to make certain decisions and some of those decisions are within the ambit of the law."