18 Mar 2021

The department of Education in Maun has secured P1.2 million for the refurbishment of Okavango Junior Secondary School kitchen, which was gutted by fire in 2018.

North West regional education director, Ms Veronica Letlhare revealed this when responding to a recommendation from Okavango Sub-district Council, which requested an update on the current status of the said project.

It was reported that school kitchen was gutted by fire in 2018 and the school had been using a temporary structure to ensure the learners were fed while awaiting refurbishment.

The fire was suspected to have been caused by overheated gas pot left overnight; leading to boiling water drying and overheated oil spilling and catching fire, which damaged two pots, electrical wires and gas cylinders, wall and floor tiles, roofing sheets and ceiling structure, among others.

However, Ms Letlhare apologised for the delay in refurbishing the facility, explaining that it came out that the facility was drastically burnt as there was no kitchen at all.

She explained that the regional office facilitated the refurbishment of the kitchen after receiving a final report in 2019 from different departments and acknowledged that there were delays due to some tendering processes and interruption of the outbreak of COVID-19 during the 2020/21 financial year.

This March, she stated, a project memorandum was approved and funds secured at the Ministry of Basic Education.

Ms Letlhare explained that currently, the department of Technical Services (DTS) in the region had been instructed to review the bill of quantities, including the upgrading of the kitchen septic tanks, drawing up of an invitation to tender (ITT) and submitting to the Ministerial Tender Committee by March 3 requesting for a direct appointment to cut down on the processes of tendering as there was a contractor on site.

In an interview, Okavango Sub- district Council chairperson, Mr Mpoke Karapo explained that they were concerned about the delay inrefurbishing the facility, adding that initially the project was funded and the money was diverted to other projects.

Currently, he said, the school was cooking outside with borrowed pots from a primary schools in Gumare.

Secondly, he said, the council wanted the department to opt for direct appointment method to speed up the project implementation rather than the normal tender process, which would take long, but they were informed that the option had loopholes, hence they requested the director to come and update them on the matter. ends