We will not rebuild schools ‘destroyed by communities’ – KZN education dept

The department of education in KwaZulu-Natal has said it will not rebuild a school that was reportedly set alight by some pupils this week.

“We have said that [we are] not going to rebuild schools deliberately destroyed by communities. We need to know who these kids are and isolate them,” department spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa told News24 on Friday.

He was speaking after Zwelinjani Secondary School was set alight by some pupils who were allegedly angry over poor marks they had received.

Mthethwa did not say what would be done to accommodate pupils, but said that investigations were ongoing.

“We are in the process of trying to identify the offending pupils and will then put them through a school disciplinary process.”

He said that education facilities were a precious resource in communities and had to be protected.

“Other kids are desperately looking for a new school or facilities in school. You cannot take resources to people who are destroying an important resource. That is essentially promoting anarchy and vandalism. We have to come to a point where we say enough is enough.”

Mthethwa called on parents of the school to identify the pupils who “committed these crimes”.

“These are acts of criminality. We cannot condone this. We are working with the police now. Parents must come forward. How can you keep quiet when your child is involved in something so serious? We have not heard anything from parents.”

It was previously reported that police were investigating the incident and no arrests had been made.

The official cause of the fire has yet to be confirmed.

Earlier this year in January, the Mvuzo High School in Pietermaritzburg and the Bathembu High School in Msinga, northern KwaZulu-Natal, were also damaged in suspected arson attacks.

READ MORE: Pupils ‘burn down Durban school’ after getting ‘bad marks’

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