More than 140 schools have been broken into in Mpumalanga, where learning material like computers, internet savers and laptops amounting to millions of rand have been stolen since March last year.
The provincial department of education said it has been left frustrated by the burglaries targeting schools.
The department said at least 147 schools have fallen victim to the crime and that there is no budget to cover the stolen items, which has impacted learning at schools.
“Indeed, the vandalism and stealing of school property is making things very difficult for the department and it robs children of their deserved bright future,” said spokesperson for the department of education in Mpumalanga Jasper Zwane.
“The reality is that the department does not have a budget set aside to address this. Schools also bear the brunt as they have to soldier on under these difficult circumstances with limited resources.”
Zwane said though they managed to fix some of the schools' infrastructure, they require outside assistance to overcome the problem.
“Some schools were fixed, however, as things stand there is some backlog. The department requested the Mpumalanga Regional Training Trust (MRTT) to assist in fixing some of the affected schools. They utilise their students to render the service as part of their experimental training.
“To this end, the department requests communities to work with law enforcement agencies to report incidents of break-ins and vandalism of schools,” said Zwane.
Elphus Maseko, the chairperson of the Mpumalanga school governing bodies, said the department doesn’t want to fund schools' safety, leaving each school to use its own limited budget to hire security guards.
“First of all, let me say to hire professional security guards costs about R60,000. However, the department doesn’t want to talk about it. SGBs in each school look from their annual allocation and pay from it for anyone to look after the school,” Maseko said.
“Some schools pay R800 a month for a person to look after the property, and that person is either an old man who agreed to the salary or a young man who just needs a job. So, until the department shows the will to protect the infrastructure including gadgets which are paid for by our taxes, this war is not over.” Some of the schools that have fallen victim to the crime include Lekazi Primary School outside Mbombela and Sibambisene Primary School at Pienaar outside White River, where the guard hired by the SGB was killed during a robbery.
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