By Andisiwe Plaatjie, Siphesihle Joji and Luvuyo Mjekula
Criminals broke into four Makhanda schools this week, making off with newly fitted toilet piping and fittings and causing thousands of rand worth of damage.
The break-ins were also a big blow to the Department of Education’s project to upgrade ablution facilities at the schools – Andrew Moyakhe School of Excellence, TEM Mrwetyana High, Archie Mbolekwa Primary and Tantyi Primary.
All four schools were burgled around the same time and only the toilets were targeted.
Grocott’s Mail reporters spoke to the affected schools’ principals.
Lindiso Funani, the principal of Archie Mbolekwa Primary, said the thieves broke into the school and took taps, bathroom basins, toilet doors. Funani said on Tuesday, the criminals ruptured water pipes causing water to gush out uncontrollably.
The principal was worried that if they fixed the toilets, the criminals were likely to return. Funani said it was not the first burglary at the school. He said the fencing around the school was in a bad state and this made it easy for people to get into the school. Funani lamented inadequate security on the property. “These break-ins affect the school because now it is exam time and the leaners can’t use the toilets. They even took school rubbish bins,” saidl a visibly frustrated Funani.
Tantyi Primary School principal, Priscilla Glover, meanwhile, told Grocott’s Mail that the morning after the burglary, she had to spend more than R3 000 to beef up security at the school. Glover said the construction workers had departed from the school between 7pm and 9pm on Tuesday.
Glover said she was notified by learners when they arrived at school the following day, at about 8am, after they saw water spewing out of the toilet area. She said the burglars stole new pumps and taps and also broke toilet doors. “This affects the school because now [the learners]are using buckets to flush the toilets. This also affected the grade 7 learners, because they started their exams today later at their usual time,” Glover said.
Nomalungelo Tambo, the principal of TEM Mrwetyana Secondary School, said they became aware on Monday that there had been a break-in at the school. She said the thieves not only vandalised property, but stole basins and taps. There were 20 missing taps and basins, Tambo said.
She said the complete water supply system and toilets were vandalised, the site office was also vandalised, the air conditioner outside unit was stolen and the wall tiles damaged. Tambo said for the past few months, they had no toilets and so the Department of Education decided to renovate their toilets. “The school gets affected because teachers and learners use the same toilets and that causes a huge problem. It is not healthy for everyone.”
All the principals said they had reported the crimes to the police. Tthe police had arrived at TEM Mrwetyana and had taken statements and fingerprints, but the Tantyi Primary principal was still waiting when the Grocott’s Mail team arrived at the school on Wednesday.
All the principals felt sad, especially for the children whose education was disrupted by the crimes.
Andrew Moyakhe principal Jonathan Hellemann spoke to Grocott’s Mail briefly, also raising concerns about lack of adequate security at the school. He called on the department to help the school improve security.
Grocott’s Mail reached out to the department’s spokesperson, Mali Mtima, and the police’s Captain Marius McCarthy, but there had been no response by the time of publishing.
