‘Nothing to salvage’ after blaze guts admin block at Gauteng school

An admin block at Amogelang Secondary School in Soshanguve burnt down during the early hours of Monday morning, the Gauteng Department of Education has said in a statement.

“According to information at our disposal, it is alleged that members of the community in the school neighborhood heard a loud sound, which sounded like an explosive, coming from the school. Subsequently, fire erupted in the administration block,” department spokesperson Steve Mabona explained.

Firefighters managed to extinguish the fire, but there “was nothing to salvage” from the blaze.

“The fire destroyed files, photocopy machines, computers, printers and other items. Fortunately, nutrition and learners’ scripts were stored somewhere else and, as such, were not lost in the fire,” Mabona said.

The loss incurred in the fire was yet to be determined and an investigation has been launched to determine the causes.

According to the department, police were also on the scene and were investigating circumstances surrounding this incident.

Mabona said that a security guard employed by the department was not on the scene at the time of the incident. He added that the the department was looking at the possibility that there may have been a break-in, because some of the locks and doors had been broken.

“We will never get tired to appeal to anyone who might have information on this unfortunate act to share same with the police. It is disappointing that, yet another school has been destroyed by fire,” Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.