Heartless to rob disabled pupils

I read with tears in my eyes the heartbreaking story of criminals who stole learning equipment worth more than R3m at Tsakane Special School in Acornhoek, Mpumalanga.

This happened while we are still in shock at the unfortunate robbery at Menzi Primary School in Tsakane, Ekurhuleni, a few weeks ago. While crime on its own is condemned from all angles, what makes this Acornhoek story more painful is that the school caters for about 200 pupils with severe intellectual disability.

It was a milestone worth celebrating when Tsakane Special School was opened in 2014 as one of the 18 schools that cater for pupils with disabilities in the province.

Media reports state that the heartless criminals broke into the school, assaulted the guard and stole learning equipment, which include speech therapy and audiology appliances, computers, printers and refrigerators. What kind of society have we become to indulge in criminal activities that, at the same time, deprive our children of a better tomorrow? The pupils are people with disabilities so, by stealing from them, their situation is worsened. How are they going to manage if the machines that used to keep them coping have been taken away from them?

How do you sleep at night knowing that you have put a “full stop” in someone else’s life? This is sickening and really calls for a moral regeneration summit.

It is not even poverty that fuels criminal activities but pure acts of greed. May the hand of the law show its might and bring all perpetrators to book. I also call on all citizens to liberate themselves from selfdestruction and help build a better society and a better world.

Malphia Honwane Gottenburg eManyeleti