Festive Season School Vandalism: 39 in Northern Cape and 57 in Gauteng

• The South African government have announced that over the festive season school holiday, over 100 schools were vandalised nationwide
• 39 of these cases took place in the Northern Cape, and 57 were in Gauteng, but the extent of the damage is being assessed
• Mathanzima Mweli said the majority of Gauteng schools are able to accommodate students for the 2022 school year

JOHANNESBURG - The South African government have announced that over the festive season school holiday over 100 schools were vandalised nationwide. 39 of these cases took place in the Northern Cape, and 57 were in Gauteng.

The Northern Cape's Education Department is investigating the extent of the vandalism at its province's schools. Geoffrey Van Der Merwe, a spokesperson for the provincial department, declared the department's condemnation of the vandalism and called for the perpetrators to be arrested.

Read also

Schools open but 700 Gauteng learners waiting for places at schools, ANCYL recommends private education

"We appeal to all school communities to work with the SAPS to ensure that these perpetrators are arrested and face the full might of the law. Our infrastructure unit is still conducting an assessment of the damage caused to do the reparation work," Van der Merwe said.

The incidents in the Northern Cape and Gauteng

According to EWN, Mathanzima Mweli, the Director-General of the Basic Education Department, said the majority of Gauteng schools are able to accommodate students for the 2022 school year despite 57 schools in the province being vandalised.

Mweli added that many schools in Gauteng fell victim to weather damage due to severe storms and are in need of urgent repairs.

Angie Motshekga, the Minister of Basic Education, is going to Randfontein in Gauteng to inspect three schools for readiness to receive students in 2022, SABC News reports.

Read also

Eastern Cape floods affect matriculants waiting for results, leave 100s homeless and 14 dead

South Africans react to school vandalism cases

@GANDI_EDMOND believes:

"I suspect these tender groups."

@jmmalgasX asked:

"Could the army please patrol schools premises?"

@Junbugstone said:

"Get security to those schools and stop this nonsense.'

@ZAR1576 shared:

"This wouldn’t be the case if there was actual police visibility."

@Mastos_TM remarked:

"I still believe the community can do more to assist. We just choose not to."

Schools open for 2022 while 700 Gauteng learners remain unplaced

In earlier news about South African schools, Briefly News previously reported that Panyaza Lesufi, the Education MEC for Gauteng, has apologised to the 700 learners in the province who have not yet been placed in a school despite the schoolyear starting today (12 January).

The unplaced learners vary in age and grade, from children due to start grade one to grade eight learners eager to begin high school. They all applied via the Department of Education's website.

"On behalf of the department, I don't want only to apologise, but I want to reassure parents that last year during this particular period we had almost 35 000 learners that were unplaced," Lesufi said.

Source: Briefly News