Community based syndicates suspected in school vandalism

The KwaZulu-Natal Education Department says the incidents of burglaries at several of its schools are linked to criminals from the communities in which the schools are situated.

Over the weekend eThekwini Primary School in KwaMashu in Durban became the latest victim of a burglary during the national lockdown. Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the North West have reported similar instances of vandalism and burglaries.

More than 200 schools have been vandalised around the country since the national lockdown was instituted to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says she is horrified at the high number of affected schools.

Motshekga says she is working with her counterpart, Police Minister Bheki Cele to get to the bottom of these incidents.

KwaZulu Natal Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu says, “There seems to be a clear sort of syndicate that wants to strong arm the government to give into the demand that we need to provide private security to guard our schools which we remain opposed to.”

“I will also be meeting the MEC for community safety in the province because we worry that where the suspects have been caught with whatever they have stolen in our schools past cases are not progressing and we need to finalize past cases so we are able to send a strong message that our schools are not playgrounds,” added Mshengu.

Today we opened eThekwini Primary School at the heart of KwaMashu built in corroboration with Cotton On Foundation. It’s a state of the art, fit for purpose school. The community of KwaMashu is happy @DBE_KZN pic.twitter.com/yqzjnov6f2

— Kwazi Mshengu (@MshenguKwazi) February 13, 2020

But why? https://t.co/QPxGim2oGi

— Panyaza Lesufi (@Lesufi) April 9, 2020

Motshekga alarmed by number of schools vandalized since lockdown started

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga says that she is horrified at the number of schools that have been vandalised and damaged since the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) began. On Sunday night, three schools were broken into and learning equipment stolen in KwaZulu-Natal.

A total of 183 schools have been vandalised around the country.

Mpumalanga has had the most school vandalism incidents with 72 cases, followed by Gauteng with 55.

North West has had seven cases of school vandalism.

Economic impact

Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago says the extension of the lockdown period is expected to have a severe impact on the economy, with an expected increase in job losses.

His comments follow a unanimous decision by the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee to once again cut interest rates by one-percentage-point for the second time in less than a month.

This brings down the repo rate to 4.25%, the lowest rate ever recorded.

“South Africa’s lockdown has been extended by an additional fourteen days, bringing the total lockdown period to 35 days. Both the supply and demand side of this extension reduces growth and deepen it as businesses stay shut for longer and households with income spend less,” says Kganyago.

“This will likely increase job losses with further consequences for aggregate demand. The impact will be particularly severe for small businesses and individuals with earnings in the informal sector.”

In this video, reaction to South African Reserve Bank emergency interest rate cut