By REGINALD KANYANE
29 July 2025- The North West Department of Education said it is pleased to announce that electricity has been restored to five schools and two offices in the Ditsobotla Local Municipality on 28 July 2025. The department said this development is expected to significantly improve the learning environment and operational efficiency in the affected institutions.
The North West Department of Education Superintendent-General, Lengane Bogatsu said they remain committed to ensuring that all schools and offices function effectively in the delivery of quality education. Bogatsu said this is in efforts of salvaging the situation in the area.
“We met with representatives from affected schools of Ditsobotla Local Education Office, the Department of Public Works, and the Ditsobotla Local Municipality to discuss the recent electricity cut-offs in certain schools.
“The affected schools and offices were Laerskool Lichtenburg, Laerskool Burgersdorp,Lichtenburg English Secondary, Yusuf Dadoo Memorial Primary
and Shukran Primary School, Lichtenburg Circuit Office and
Local Education Offices,” he said.
Bogatsu further said the meeting successfully identified the challenges, which caused the problem. He added that all the affected departments committed to addressing the outstanding backlogs to the Ditsobotla local Municipality.
“Electricity disconnection will have a negative impact on the results of the affected schools. As the department, we were extremely concerned about the electricity disconnection experienced by the five schools and the offices. We were shocked to learn that some of the schools which were disconnected didn’t owe the municipality.
“The electricity disconnection was affecting schools negatively in their performance. It also exposed them to burglary activities from the criminals. This year the Department is targeting 95% performance in the matric results but such disconnection will lead to poor performance,” said Bogatsu.
He said the department resolved that schools should update their accounts with the municipality on regular basis.
The Guardian 