Moyahabo Mabeba
LIMPOPO – The Seshego police and the education sector have entered into an agreement in a calculated bid to get rid of criminal elements at schools.
It became apparent at a meeting held at the Seshego police station last Friday that crime has spiraled out of control in schools.
The meeting was held following concerns being expressed of theft and violence, which affect learning at schools.
There are 108 schools within the Seshego circuit.
The initiative
– Every school that falls within the Seshego policing cluster will be allocated a police official who will monitor crime at the respective school.
– A link between communities, schools and the police through school governing bodies and community policing forums.
Acting station commander Leshoaneng Mantjane reckons this initiative is a start towards a crime-free environment in schools.
“The purpose of this initiative is to map a way forward to curb crime within school premises.
We are going deploy police officials to schools who will liaise between schools and the station monitoring crime within the school premises.
Crime is increasing in our schools and we as the police cannot fold our arms when the situation is getting out of hand.
This matter needs a comprehensive collective approach to get rid of criminality in places of learning,” Mantjane said. He added that there was a lack of communication between schools, communities and the police, according to Mantjane.
“A lot of crime is committed at schools but due to a lack of communication platforms between the police, teachers and the communities, a number of criminal activities remain unreported.
What is even more frustrating is that these crimes are committed by residents in our communities who are known among us but people still do not alert us, probably because of fear of victimisation.
We are therefore calling everyone to take responsibility of this matter as crime disturbs learning processes in schools.
I must, however, emphasise that our duty is not to run schools, but only to deal with crime.”
The partnership comes hot on the heels of a crime wave that has wreaked havoc in several schools in the country.
In the Seshego circuit, the most affected schools are in the Moletjie area and the bulk of the schools in Zones 1, 2 and 8, in order of severity.
Mohlakaneng High School in Zone 1 is one of the schools affected.
School principal, William Bopape, said they experienced crime at school on a frequent basis.
The scourge of crime in schools was also confirmed by Seshego circuit representative, Mohlaloga Moloto, who is also part of the plan to rid the schools in the Seshego circuit of crime.
