26 burglaries, yet no arrests
Thieves mercilessly strip Mdantsane school of computers, infrastructure
Nkululeko Senior Primary School in NU1 in Mdantsane has been burgled 26 times in the past seven years and this week, the school’s 16th and last computer was stolen in less than three months.
Despite being located less than 1km from the nearest police station and being closer to the Rubusana education district office, criminals have targeted the school.
The recent incident on Thursday evening left the school without a single computer.
Between December and January, in two separate incidents 15 computers that were in the school’s computer lab were stolen.
According to school governing body chairperson Veliswa Mngeni, the series of breakins at the school which caters for 640 Grade 5 to 7 pupils, started with the stripping of the school’s fence.
“They stripped the fence and then disconnected the alarm response and it was freefor-all for criminals. They have clearly set their targets on us and they are hitting us big time, over and over again,” said Mngeni.
She showed the Dispatch a ring-file containing 25 police reports of cases that have been reported to the NU1 police station since 2012.
“Not a single person has been arrested,” she said.
At the time of writing police had not responded to questions sent to them as police spokesperson Captain Mlulelki Mbi said he was still waiting for a report from the NU1 police station.
When the Dispatch arrived at the school on Friday, no teaching and learning were taking place. Pupils were playing outside while teachers had walked over to the Rubusana office to report the recent incident.
Parents kept a close eye on the school and pupils.
The panels of the door to the principal’s office were broken down and the padlock lay broken on the ground.
“They broke into the school’s kitchen and found nothing. They vandalised and took electric wires in the staff room and then broke into the principal’s office where they took the school’s last and only computer,” said Mngeni.
Parent Thabiso Tanana said there has been several cases of pupils being robbed of their lunch and pocket-money on the school premises during school hours.
“Our kids are not safe, the teachers are not safe. Here we send our kids with books and a prayer and hope
Tanana said.
Last week Mngeni said protest outside Rubusana.
“The education officials told us our school was not even on the list of schools to be fenced. Clearly the department of education is okay with what is going on here.”
Education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said the department has asked for a list of all schools that need fencing. “The list is still being compiled and we will address it as soon as it’s complete,” he said. they come home parents alive,” staged
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