CAPE TOWN-An eight-year-old school in Ottery that has battled to remain operational is facing imminent closure after being handed a letter to “cease operations” from the City of Cape Town.
In terms of the letter, Otters Creek Junior School (OCJS), situated on 11 Serissa Street, is in contravention of the City’s Planning By-Law.
According to the letter, the property is zoned as “SR1 Single Residential Zone 1”, therefore cannot be used as a school.
The letter, dated 9 September, warned the school to stop operating from its current premises on Tuesday 11 November.
The school has three campuses in the Ottery area: a Baby Centre focusing on infants under
two years old, a pre-primary school for ages two to six and a junior school for Grades 1-7.
They support kids with learning disabilities and provide individual attention and teach in small classes.
The imminent closure has left parents, staff and learners in distress as the institution
searched for alternative premises.
People’s Post spoke with founder and managing director Yomna Allie to uncover how the
school is managing this crisis.
“Since the very start of the school we applied for compliance. There have been numerous challenges, and every time we tried to mitigate them we just faced more and more. So our school is operating without compliance, but not because we haven’t made every effort to meet
the required criteria for compliance.”
Allie said she bought the property in 2017 and tried to apply for consent use before opening
the school.
“I discovered the City of Cape Town actually had no building plans for that property
on record,” she said, accusing the City of the “setback”.
“I was then forced to draw as-built plans which delayed my initial application. We restarted the rezoning process in 2021 after an attempt to apply for consent use failed between
2018 and 2020.
“The rezoning application process was managed by a professional town planner and
the process concluded only this year. Even our appeal failed.”
The school was asked to do a noise assessment and a traffic assessment, Allie claimed.
The letter the school was served to “cease activities” has been upsetting for parents and
staff, she said.
“This instruction from the City of Cape Town has caused enormous distress for the parents,
children and staff who earn their living at the school. We decided to look for alternative premises, which we are still currently doing, premises that can fit into our budget and that are easily accessible for parents and suitable for the children.”
When People’s Post enquired from the City how it was engaging with the school the municipality said it remained committed to ensuring development across the City took place in a lawful, safe and responsible manner.
“Where challenges arise, particularly in cases involving schools and community institutions, the City seeks to apply the law with fairness,” said Mayco member for spatial planning and the environment Eddie Andrews, “while advising affected parties on areas of non-compliance and the steps required to rectify or regularise their applications in line with planning requirements and the municipal planning bylaw (MPBL).”
The City said it had empathy for the parents, learners and broader Ferness Estate community regarding the recent notice of closure of the school.
“Unfortunately, the school has since 2019 been operating illegally from a property that is
zoned as single residential,” Andrews pointed out, “which does not permit a place of instruction as a primary land-use right. As part of our commitment to transparent and supportive planning processes officials from the local planning district will be available to engage with the applicant during the pre-application phase, in line with the provisions of the MPBL.”
The land-use application will have to comply with the provisions of the MPBL and will be
assessed on its merits, he added.
“A public-participation process will also be required to allow surrounding neighbours and
property owners to comment on the application before any decision is made.”
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) noted that the school is having issues with their municipal zoning.
“The school is an independent school, and the WCED is not closing it,” said school spokesperson Kerry Mauchline.
“Queries would need to be directed to the independent school.” Andrews said the City remains sensitive to the impact such matters have on families and communities.
“Our approach is to guide and support applicants through the proper legal channels so
community-serving facilities can continue their work in a way that is lawful, safe and beneficial
to all residents,” he said.
The school is still engaging with the City to submit a new application of consent use so they
have another chance to apply, Allie added.
“Hopefully they can assist us to overcome the technical challenges we faced with our first
application,” she said.
Concerned parent, Nazreen Sonday said her 10-year old son is one of the special needs
learners at the school.
“He has been attending OCJS since Grade R. We struggled to find a suitable school for him
and were fortunate Allie opened her doors for us. Our boy has been thriving at the school and
they have been incredibly accommodating of his needs,” she said.
Fellow parent, Waybah Phillips said her children are neurodiverse and require small classes
with lots of individual attention.
“Currently the government special needs schools do not cater enough for higher functioning special needs. For government special needs schools my kids have been on the waiting
list for the last five years. Where do we take our kids if Otters closes? We are appealing to the
City. Help us keep the school open.”
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