MEC praises residents for tracking stolen goods
The Umlazi community has been lauded for recovering items stolen during a robbery at a school south of Durban this week.
A security guard was injured on Monday after four men attacked him, KwaZulu-Natal education MEC Kwazi Mshengu said yesterday.
“We received the shocking news of an attack on a security guard at Ntwela Primary School.
“According to the school principal, the guard sustained serious head injuries when he was assaulted by four unknown men, who demanded keys to the principal’s office.”
Mshengu praised the response of residents, who marched on one of the suspect’s homes.
“What is encouraging is that members of the community took it upon themselves to investigate the matter and found the goods belonging to the school at the home of one of the suspects.
“Regrettably, the suspects are still on the run, but a criminal case has since been registered at Umlazi police station.”
He said the four suspects broke into the office through the roof and made off with a grass-cutter, a laptop and desktop computers, a colour printer and all the school keys, which were kept in the principal’s office.
What is encouraging is that community members took it upon themselves to investigate and found the goods.
“We wish our dedicated and hard-working guard a speedy recovery following the unfortunate attack.
“As a department, we are saddened to hear that school property was vandalised and that computers were stolen.
“We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude for the bravery shown by community members.
“This confirms that education is a societal issue, as opposed to it being viewed as a matter [solely] of the department.
“Communities and government need to work together to curb crime in schools.”
He also called on schools to protect their infrastructure.
“In 2019, we rolled out ICT infrastructure in some schools. We are calling on communities to look after the infrastructure as it belongs to them and future generations.” – News24 Wire
Kwazi Mshengu KZN education MEC