{"id":97346,"date":"2025-04-30T16:46:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T14:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=97346"},"modified":"2025-04-30T16:46:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T14:46:15","slug":"riverlea-high-fire-over-230-learners-affected-as-arson-investigation-unfolds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/riverlea-high-fire-over-230-learners-affected-as-arson-investigation-unfolds\/","title":{"rendered":"Riverlea High Fire: Over 230 Learners Affected as Arson Investigation Unfolds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n3-minute read
\n30 April 2025 | 13:20 CAT<\/p>\n

\"\"

Preliminary investigations suggest the fire started in one of the unused classrooms. Picture: Thandoluhle Ngcobo\/Eyewitness News<\/p><\/div>\n

The Gauteng school community was left reeling after a fire broke out at Riverlea High School in Johannesburg on Sunday, gutting 11 classrooms and a boys\u2019 toilet block. Police have since opened a case of arson, and the investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Steve Mabona, spokesperson for the Gauteng Department of Education, confirmed that no learners were present at the time of the incident due to the school recess, raising suspicions of deliberate ignition. \u201cIt can’t be accidental because it’s recess and there was no one at the school,\u201d Mabona explained in an interview with Radio Islam International<\/a>, adding that some community members may have witnessed suspicious activity and are cooperating with police.<\/p>\n

The extent of the damage is significant. \u201cThe classes are cut. You can’t use them,\u201d Mabona stated. Four of the destroyed classrooms were allocated to Grade 8 learners. Temporary mobile units have already been deployed, and the department has repurposed the school hall to accommodate displaced learners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to have a huge impact on boy learners at the school,\u201d said Mabona, noting the destruction of the only male toilet block. To address the issue, the department is planning to provide mobile toilet units and is considering the use of hall facilities in the interim.<\/p>\n

Despite the disruption, officials are determined to ensure continuity in teaching. \u201cWe will make sure that curriculum delivery is conducted and surely they should be in a position to continue with the course of teaching,\u201d Mabona assured.<\/p>\n

In total, 230 Grade 8 learners have been directly affected by the loss of classrooms, while all male students are impacted by the damaged sanitation facilities.<\/p>\n

Mabona remains hopeful that the police will uncover the perpetrators with help from the community. \u201cWe are truly comforted that probably police do have some information that can assist them.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the school scrambles to recover, the community and education authorities remain united in their call for justice and an urgent return to normalcy for Riverlea High.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up with Annsia Essack and Steve Mabona here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 30 April 2025 | 13:20 CAT The Gauteng school community was left reeling after a fire broke out at Riverlea High School in Johannesburg on Sunday, gutting 11 classrooms and a boys\u2019 toilet block. Police have since opened a case of arson, and the investigation is ongoing. Steve Mabona, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":97348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/whatsapp-image-2025-04-28-at-104838_43197c0f.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-pk6","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-06 05:53:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}