* Broken schools belie Mandela dream of “better life”
* Ruling party under fire for delivery deficit
* Corruption and cronyism seen undermining governance
By Peroshni Govender
ENTSHINGENI, South Africa, June 24 (Reuters) – First graders
huddle to do sums on scraps of paper pressed against a cracked
mud wall at Mwezeni Primary School in South Africa’s destitute
Eastern Cape province.
The school may be located in Africa’s wealthiest nation, but
there are no chairs, no desks and no work books.
The Eastern Cape, home to giants of the African National
Congress like Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu who helped end
apartheid and Thabo Mbeki, the nation’s second democratically
elected president, is a glaring example of the ruling party’s
failure to deliver its promise of a “better life for all”.
In Entshingeni village, not far away from where Mandela was
raised, a mud hut with a dirt floor serves as a classroom to 79
first and second graders who sit on planks across rickety bench
frames in front of a battered chalkboard.
“We are proud of Mr Mandela and Mr Mbeki. They came from
this land and went all over the world. What will presidents
overseas say if they see how we live?” said David Skwele from
Mkanzini village, dressed in a tattered red T-shirt.
Continued…
Article source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/AfricaSouthAfricaNews/~3/yuUtyqRgZ18/idAFL5E8HLC0B20120624
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