Pretoria – Matric pupils at Emalahleni in Mpumalanga were prevented from writing their maths exam on Monday when community members went on a protest over power cuts.

The protest led to the closure of several roads in the area.

It has emerged that a transformer at a substation in KwaGuqa was damaged and as a result, surrounding areas have been subjected to lengthy periods without electricity.

Community members have since been engaged in a back-and-forth argument over the repair of the substation.

A ward councillor at Emalahleni, XA Nkosi, told Rekord that six wards had been without power for weeks after a transformer in the area broke down.

He added that about 40 000 households had been affected.

Repairs at the substation could take up to 4 months.

Emalahleni mayor Conny Nkalitshana is expected to address the concerns of the protesting residents.

Meanwhile in Gauteng, service delivery protests prevented 53 matric pupils from writing their exams last week.

Speaking to eNCA, the Department of Basic Education's director-general, Mathanzima Mweli, said issues raised by residents were legitimate but that preventing learners from writing final exams was not the solution.

Mweli said the department was also worried about the looming public service wage strike.

“We are concerned about the imminent public strike because potentially it can disrupt exams, but we have placed contingency plans in place to deal with that.

“The good thing is that all role players that are involved in the salary negotiations indicated that they would want to put exams as their priority and make sure exams are not disturbed,” he told the broadcaster.

IOL

#demonstration

Emalahleni protest over lights prevents matrics from writing maths final exam