In a last-ditch bid to fight its eviction, a Durban school is planning to petition the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.

This week the Juma Musjid school's application for leave to appeal against an eviction judgment handed down in September was turned down in the High Court in Durban.

The 80-year-old school operates on the Cathedral Road property owned by the Juma Masjid Trust.

The court ruled that the school should close its doors on December 15, but a school official, who asked not to be named, said "that cannot happen while the school is still taking legal action".

"There is no chance of the school closing, because the petition that is being prepared nullifies any action," said the official.

The school's problems began in 2004 when the trust served it with an eviction order, which the governing body successfully opposed.

In 2008 the school was again served with an eviction notice. The governing body again intervened and the matter had to be dealt with in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg, where judgment was made in favour of the trust.

The trust handed the eviction order to the school after the Department of Education failed to pay the annual rental of R3000.

The school is now R700000 in arrears.

An official said even though the school had been refused permission to appeal, existing pupils were being allowed to re-enrol, but the Juma Musjid will not be taking in any new pupils for 2010.

A spokesman for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, Mbali Thusi, said the department would help the school if it closed.

"We will be assisting in relocating pupils to other schools. We are working closely with stakeholders, including parents, to ensure that no child is without a school," she said.

 By Santham Pillay