KZN MEC must deliver on promises for school safety
KZN has now been ranked third in the country for the number of violent school hotspots.
RECENT comments in the media by KZN Education MEC, Kwazi Mshengu, around the province’s Schools Safety Programme [SSP] – with the promise that 1 000 highly trained volunteers will be deployed to protect schools by as early as next week – are little more than a plan about a plan, says Dr Imran Keeka, MPL, DA KZN Spokesperson on Education.
He said this is borne out by the DA having seen a circular which only recently called for submissions from stakeholders for details of such volunteers.
“A repeat of this ‘pie in the sky’ proposal was made yet again this week after a Sastri College learner was tragically shot and killed by another learner. The DA extends its sincere condolences to the family and we hope that justice will be swift. How a learner had a firearm on him at school remains a conundrum which we hope the SAPS will get to the bottom of,” said Keeka.
He said how the ‘imaginary security force’ of 1000 volunteers will work to prevent this scourge also remains a mystery.
This after a recent meeting of the province’s Education portfolio committee, which revealed that funds for this project are not budgeted for.
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“The reality is that there is no funding and it is disingenuous for the MEC and Education officials to keep repeating this trite story line and false hope. In the event that we are wrong, we challenge the MEC to roll out the programme next week as promised. That KZN has now been ranked third in the country for the number of violent school hotspots emphasises the need for this issue to be taken seriously,” said Keeka.
He said school safety was not only about having 1 000 volunteers manning school gates.
Instead, there is a critical need for an overall audit of school safety, including an assessment of access through porous school fencing, the current status of guards at schools, security measures including random searches by the police, installation of CCTV cameras in schools and the role of municipalities in ensuring safer communities.
“A proper safety plan also requires that SAPS do their jobs in conjunction with CPF’s to prevent crime and where a crime is committed, work swiftly to deliver the accused to the courts with a solid case before the justice system. This will also require a corruption free and dedicated SAPS. To date such an audit has not taken place despite the MEC’s assurances to the DA that this would be the case. In the interim, his hallucination of 1 000 highly trained volunteers must be seen for what it is – lies and fantasy,” he concluded.
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