Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says the education department does not have the finances to fix the Katlehong school believed to have been burned down due to protests.

"Where will we take the money? We don't have it anyway. It's not necessarily that we do not want to rebuild the school, but we don't have it because we have promised other communities that need schools that we will build schools for them.

"So we can't take the money and give it to people who decided to burn the school," Lesufi told the media on Thursday.

This came after the school in the East Rand was allegedly torched by protesting residents who were demanding electricity in the area, News24 earlier reported.

Questions arose as to how this decision by the MEC would affect pupils.

In response, Lesufi indicated that schools in the area could accommodate them. 

"I'm convinced that the schools in that area are not overcrowded, there won't be an inconvenience because learners will go to other schools," he said.

The MEC further clarified that the education department had always taken a stance to not fix schools that have been vandalized by the community. He cited Orlando High School as an example.

"Go to Orlando High, parents and learners vandalized the school, broke windows and we told them we are not going to fix it," he said.

In 2016, Lesufi vowed not to fix the school in Soweto after an office and the library were vandalised during a strike over the suspension of a teacher.

"Today, if you go to Orlando High the school is fixed, by who? Parents and learners themselves. So it's a continuation of our standpoint, it's not something new. We have done it before and we will continue to do it," he added.