Umlazi residents recover goods stolen from school

The Umlazi community has been lauded for their swift action after they recovered items that were stolen during a robbery at a local school south of Durban this week.

A security guard was injured on Monday after four men attacked him, KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu said on Friday.

“We received shocking news of an attack on a security guard at Ntwela Primary School. According to the school principal, the security guard sustained serious head injuries after he was assaulted by four unknown men who demanded keys to the school principal’s office.”

Mshengu praised the response of residents who marched on one of the suspect’s homes.

“What is encouraging is that members of the community took it upon themselves to investigate the matter and found the goods belonging to the school at the home of one of the suspects. Regrettably, the suspects are still on the run but a criminal case has since been registered at Umlazi police station.”

He said the four suspects broke into the office by gaining access through the roof and made off with a grass cutter, laptop, desktop, colour printer, and all the school keys which were kept in the school principal’s office.

“We wish our dedicated and hard-working security guard a speedy recovery following his unfortunate attack. As a department, we are saddened to hear that school property was vandalised and that computers were stolen.

“We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude for the bravery shown by community members. This confirms that education is a societal issue as opposed to it being viewed as a matter of the department. Communities and government need to work together to curb crime in schools.”

He further called on schools to protect their infrastructure.

“In 2019, we rolled out ICT infrastructure in some schools. We are calling upon communities to look after the ICT infrastructure as it belongs to them and future generations.”

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