Education dept reviewing security at Kopanong school

The Gauteng Department of Education announced it is in the process of reviewing security at Kutumela Molefi primary school in Kopanong area.

Recently the school announced it was forced to divert its maintenance budget to hire toilets, following the vandalism of the school allegedly by residents of an informal settlement nearby.

Gauteng education spokesperson Steve Mabona confirmed that the school was provided with four patrollers from the local CPF and not armed security guards due to budget constraints.

However, in the 2020/21 financial year the school was provided with armed security guards for the period of six months and when the contract ended, it was never renewed due to budget constraints.

“The matter has since been brought to our attention and an assessment will be done to ascertain the extent of damage and the costing,” said Mabona.

The department appeals to community members not to damage or steal valuable assets in schools that are meant to benefit their children.

It warned that anyone found to have committed such criminal activities will be brought to book.

He confirmed the department is aware of vandalism of school property – a smart classroom allegedly burned around April, an attempted burglary after the palisade fence was cut to gain entrance, the library door was tampered with, toilets vandalised and electric cables as well as Eskom poles cut down. All in all, not a good year.

Mabona said the school reported the cases to the Boschkop and Silverton police stations, which are busy with the investigations.

Nomzamo Zulu, chairperson of the school governing body (SGB), said the department needed to act fast to save the school’s maintenance budget.

He said at the moment the school had no choice but continue using the funds to hire the toilets to keep the school running.

However, the school will soon run out of funds because it’s expensive to hire toilets.

Pitsi Mosehla, member of SGB said teachers had already warned of a possible urinary tract infection outbreak at the school due to hygiene concerns relating to hired toilets.

“We have lost count of the number of burglary and vandalism cases we have reported to the police. We told the police to come because we have information about the stolen poles, and that they are used in illegal electricity connections at the nearby squatter camp but the police failed us,” said Mosehla.

Mabona urged the community to work closely with law enforcement agencies to apprehend all those that are committing this crime.

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