Schools are 'sitting ducks’ for criminals, says MEC Lesufi

“We are sitting ducks for criminals, it’s a very difficult battle, we are in the belly of criminals.”

Asked if the department was winning the battle against vandalism of schools in Gauteng, education MEC Panyaza Lesufi  said public schools were as vulnerable as churches and railway lines because other possible targets, such as businesses, had beefed up security with CCTV cameras, armed response and strong burglar bars, among others.

“It’s an uphill battle, we must not lose hope but to say we are winning would be ambitious. How we are surviving is still an amazing thing as criminals have established schools and churches as sitting ducks,” said Lesufi when unpacking vandalism at schools in the province.

During the recent civil unrest, which rocked the province about a month ago, more than a dozen schools were attacked and vandalised.

The are 54 schools that now needed to be urgently repaired, however, those that suffered damage due to crime and natural causes were being prioritised, Lesufi said.

He said changing the mindset of the communities living around these schools so that they could help prevent acts of vandalism had been an “uphill battle”, with many examples of community members not caring about the facilities.

“We've built a very beautiful school in Olivenhoutbosch and because it’s the best and the most beautiful thing in that community every night when people want to do silly things, including drinking and other adult things, they go to the school and do it in the school premises,” Lesufi told Sowetan on Monday.

He said in one of their new schools in Olivenhoutbosch in Tshwane, pupils were confronted every morning with alcohol bottles and used condoms inside the school premises.

“It’s very difficult to change the mindset and it’s an uphill battle I have to be honest with you,” Lesufi said.

He said he was, however, hurt that it was the very same communities that were expected to protect the schools who were the ones breaking in and causing damages worth millions of rand.

The MEC said as a result they had decided not to prioritise giving support to schools that were vandalised by community members to voice their disagreements.

“There are three or four schools in Gauteng which are still standing (with damages) because we just cordoned off the areas where there was vandalism because we can’t take money from other communities that need a school to fix a problem where they had a school but decided to burn it down,” Lesufi said.

He said the department was forced to appoint private security firms to permanently guard schools in the province, which was something they could not afford.

However, Lesufi indicated that there were a few examples of good community collaboration, including in Braamfischerville, Soweto, where taxi owners were using school premises to park their taxis overnight and by extension protect the schools.

Lesufi said this had been emulated in other areas of Soweto and had helped protect schools against criminal elements.

“Majority of our schools, especially the new schools in Braamfischerville, taxi drivers have taken over the protection of those schools literally, in exchange obviously of parking their cars there and they have security that protects their vehicles.”

He described the situation as a win-win for both the taxi drivers and the department as the taxi drivers were using the premises for free, unlike when they parked their taxis at other facilities, including filling stations.

“It’s something that’s gaining popularity in the majority of our townships where taxi drivers now prefer to park in our premises and in such instances we’ve never had even a single break-in or robbery,” Lesufi said.

He said the reasons there were no longer watchmen at schools in the province was as a result of the department losing a court case brought by the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA), which felt the department was illegally appointing unregistered security guards.

Lesufi said they were forced to stop hiring volunteers to do patrolling work around the schools about four years ago after they lost a court challenge by PSIRA and this had left schools exposed because the department could not afford to hire a security firm for each of the schools in the province

“It’s a painful thing and still hurts me as we had community volunteers, the patrollers, to whom we gave a stipend, with each and every school having three of them doing shifts,” he said.