Following a spate of crime that has affected the local schools, a multisectoral stakeholder meeting was held at Khetsalwati Secondary School in Nyongane, Hazyview on Thursday May 2.
It was organised by the Department of Education (DoE), in partnership with labour formations, traditional councils, community-based organisations, the local and district municipalities and law enforcement agencies.
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According to the DoE, the meeting sought to address the security concerns around the area and to develop a comprehensive plan to ensure the safety of schools, teachers and learners, as well as community members in the area.
During the meeting, the MEC for education, Bonakele Majuba, said: “It is the will and intention of this gathering that anyone who harbours intentions to threaten our teachers and learners must henceforth know that it will be impossible to do so, as such actions are contrary to the development and survival of the community. It must be impossible to do so, not because our schools have strong walls, fences or a strong police force, but because we are united to expose criminality for what it is – the enemy of progress.
“Therefore, any criminal must not enjoy free space in our communal space. That is the solidarity we must forge.”
Majuba said they should use the power of unity to identify all those who trouble the community and hand them over to the law enforcement agencies. “Through our preliminary investigation, we gathered information about instances of crime, cops who adopted schools and measures put in place to prevent crime in our schools within the two circuits.
We noticed there are schools that have never experienced crime-related incidents. This meeting must therefore propose means to maintain the status quo in those schools, but also for us to draw lessons about what is it that these schools are doing to prevent the occurrence of such incidents,” he explained.
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Majuba said Bambanani Primary School recorded five crime-related incidents and Mdumiseni Primary School experienced seven such incidents, and sadly, no one has been arrested. “Let us use this gathering to dig deep for impactful and lasting solutions. We can decide to relegate the responsibility to one department or institution or person, forgetting that our founding father of democracy told us that it is all in our hands,” he said.
