Two Joza schools dont know how to deal with a recent resurge of criminals targeting their premises, after the one lost a variety of property and furnishings containing copper over the winter vacation.
Nombulelo Secondary School principal Mthuthuzeli Koliti said his schools science laboratory was hit particularly hard and the thieves took electric boards as well as water taps, windows, door handles and other valuables.
"Its a big headache to find ourselves in this situation at this time of year because even the Department of Education always says it has no money. Also, here at school we dont have funds to replace these stolen things," Koliti said.
The most recent break-in took place sometime between 9 June and 12 July over the school holidays, but this wasnt the first time that thieves hit Nombulelo this year. Koliti said that a computer was taken from their computer lab in May.
Meanwhile CM Vellem Primary School principal Nontombi Mene-Mpahlwa reported that her school experienced a break-in earlier this week, although nothing was actually stolen.
On Monday night, 13 classrooms were broken into and vandalised, but Mpahlwa-Mene said the cost of the damage is yet to be confirmed. They now face the additional financial strain of repairing and replacing a number of security gates, windows and padlocks that were forced open.
Mpahlwa-Mene is outraged with the lack of co-operation from the police. “I don’t even want to talk about that,” she said. “The policeman and the policewoman just took a tour and then said to call them. They didn’t [even] give their names.”
A similar incident occurred at the same school last year, and “we heard nothing from the police,” the principal said. “The case was withdrawn because the perpetrator is apparently at Fort England Hospital.”
