Bribery claims rock Pretoria school as parents scramble for placements

Hoerskool Akasia’s management, in Pretoria North, is accused of corruption.

Angry parents marked the first day of South Africa’s 2025 school calendar through protest outside the school, claiming they’ve been asked to pay bribes to secure placement for their children.

One of them, Howard Nkwe, says he is still struggling to secure placement for his 13-year-old daughter. He’s accused school officials of exploiting parents’ desperation, alleging widespread bribery and corruption.

“People are buying spaces here. My wife was asked to pay R4 000 to get space in this school,” he told YNews.

 “You pay school fees, but they now have a system where they demand money from parents to get placement over others,” he added. 

The emotional parents allege that learners have been placed far from home, taking a significant financial and emotional toll on them and their children.

#YNews: Desperate parents in Akasia, north of Pretoria, claim their children have been placed in ‘phantom’ schools that have not been built.

The parents demonstrated outside Hoerskool Akasia today, demanding placement for their children. pic.twitter.com/GsG5BagQRc

— Y (@Yfm) January 15, 2025

They’ve also slammed the provincial Education Department’s contentious online placement system, citing holes in the process. 

Parents are demanding a meeting with the Department of Basic Education to address their grievances.

The situation has been further complicated by reports of some of the aggrieved parents’ claims that their kids are being placed in schools that have not yet been built. 

They say their children have been allocated to the non-existent “Railway Secondary School”, which currently allegedly sits on a vacant plot.

YNews visited the site that’s allegedly earmarked for the school and found no signs of development at the open veld. 

To compound matter, the community has rejected the site, citing safety concerns due to a dilapidated railway station and busy tavern located within walking distance of where it’s situated.

According to the country’s regulation on public schools’ safety, a school cannot be built near a tavern, shebeen, or cemetery unless adequate safety measures are taken. 

Community leader, Gabriel Moyane, claims that the railway station is also no better than the tavern as it is mainly used for drug dealing, posing a serious risk to the children’s well-being.

“They sell marijuana here. Our children are coming to learn, but the department of education is taking them for granted. They are bringing our kids into a drug den area,” he said.

While the Gauteng Education Department has urged parents to provide concrete evidence of the alleged bribery at Akasia Hoerskool, it is yet to respond to the claims of a non-existent school.