The Gauteng Department of Education says Umkhumbane Junior Secondary School in Soshanguve will be ready by January, according to a Sowetan report published on 11 September 2026, despite the school having no building and its 653 learners being taught in nine mobile classrooms at Ruabohlale Secondary School, about 3.8 km away. The claim has not been independently corroborated, and the department has published no construction timeline, budget or contractor details for the designated site, which remains empty ground.

Pupils Boycott Lessons Over Conditions At Host School

Learners had boycotted classes for at least eight days by 7 September 2026, demanding their own building and an end to conditions they described as unacceptable, Sowetan reported. Pupils said they face bullying from learners at the host school, restricted movement, no electricity or whiteboards on site, limited access to water, and demands of R2 to use the toilets at Ruabohlale.

“I don’t feel good about it because we don’t have a sense of belonging. At Ruabohlale we are always made to feel like we don’t belong: the bullying from other learners, restricted movement and access to water, no electricity or boards, and others asking us for R2 to use the toilet. The department has failed us.”

That account came from a Grade 10 learner at Umkhumbane, speaking to Sowetan at the school’s temporary premises. Parents said they backed the boycott, describing the arrangement at Ruabohlale as a form of confinement for their children.

“Our children are tired now; they feel like they are on lockdown at the Ruabohlale premises. That is why they are not going to school… to get the department to act, and we are in support of them.”

Umkhumbane opened in 2023, enrolling learners while temporarily accommodated at Ruabohlale, and parents were told at the time that a permanent structure would be ready by 2025. Nine mobile classrooms have housed grades 8 to 10 since then, with one of the units used as a staff room, and Gauteng education officials were expected to visit the school on 8 September 2026, although no confirmation of that visit has been reported.

Stalled School Projects Across Gauteng

Umkhumbane’s situation sits within a wider pattern of infrastructure failure in the province. In January 2026, TimesLIVE reported that close to R1 billion had been spent on school upgrades in Gauteng while many projects were stalled, abandoned or repeatedly delayed, with only two schools ready for handover at the start of that academic year.

The provincial infrastructure department faces more than 90 litigation cases worth approximately R2 billion, and contractor cash-flow problems are cited as a major cause of the delays. The blockage is not limited to construction, as Ratanang Primary School in Kanana, north of Pretoria, was fully built for 1,100 learners yet stood empty because of outstanding compliance certificates.

The education department has withdrawn several projects from the infrastructure department as relations between the two provincial departments have deteriorated. No official confirmation has emerged that construction at Umkhumbane has started or that the January date is tied to a signed contract or budget allocation.

The department has yet to respond publicly to questions about the site, the project’s cost and the 2027 enrolment intake, leaving parents and learners to weigh its January commitment against three years of unfulfilled promises.