• Maxeke Secondary School has no security, no water, no electricity and no toilets for more than one thousand six hundred learners, and is short of desks.

• Motsewapele Primary School has had no electricity for three years and owes more than sixty thousand rand in water bills despite being a no-fee school.

Learners in three Emfuleni schools face daily danger as they try to learn in buildings that are falling apart. Many sit in dark classrooms, queue for water that runs out by midday and worry about crime while officials ignore their struggles.

A visit to Maxeke Secondary School, Lindisa Primary School and Motsewapele Primary School shows how bad things are. The Democratic Alliance says the schools show a "systematic failure" by government to protect children's right to education.

At Maxeke Secondary School, more than 1,600 learners share too few desks and chairs. There is no electricity, no water after midday and no toilets. With no security on site, criminals break in often and some wait outside the gates during the day. The science labs are barely working.

Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn

Lindisa Primary School also battles unsafe buildings. Ceilings are collapsing and some blocks are still unfinished.

The school has no steady water supply and promised upgrades and generators never arrived. After private security was replaced with patrollers, bullying, crime and drugs increased. Staff say water pressure is low and outages happen every day.

Motsewapele Primary School has had no electricity for three years. Important equipment was stolen and fewer children now enrol.

The school owes more than R60,000 in water bills. It is now expected to pay for its own water and electricity after new budget powers were handed down, but as a no-fee school it cannot afford these costs.

The Democratic Alliance says Premier Panyaza Lesufi and Education MEC Matome Chiloane are failing learners. "Learners deserve schools that are safe, functional and dignified," said Sergio Isa Dos Santos.