PICS: Stolen Menzi primary school equipment found in Joburg shop

In a statement on Tuesday last week, the department of education said it had learnt with “shock and disappointment” about a break-in at Menzi Primary School in the early hours of the same day.

Department MEC Panyaza Lesufi said Menzi Primary School was a multimillion-rand state-of-the-art mega-township school that was recently handed over to the community of Tsakane, Ekurhuleni, on the first day of school on Wednesday.

“It is alleged that two patrollers were tied up and locked in one of the strong rooms. The criminals broke the main volt door to access the keys of the entire school. All the other volts they opened with keys. Some of the keys were left, but the school is still checking if there are any other keys missing.

“The main areas broken into are the administration block and IT offices, where the tablets are charged. There is [evidence of forced] entry on the doors of all the areas they went into.”

A case was opened with the Tsakane police.

The department announced that some of the equipment had been recovered from a shop in Joburg and shared pictures of the shop, along with the suspects. Four suspects, between the ages of 23 and 38, were arrested for the robbery. Police recovered 22 tablets and three laptops, believed to have been taken from the school.

Lesufi thanked the SAPS in helping to recover the equipment and said they would continue the search in other areas.

https://twitter.com/EducationGP/status/1086216222360981504

https://twitter.com/EducationGP/status/1086222350675251200

In a statement on Tuesday, Lesufi had given the community a Friday deadline to find the stolen goods.

“It is sad to say currently the Grade 7 learners do not have any textbooks as their e-books are gone with the tablets.

“These are educational facilities aimed at enhancing the quality of education and life of children in the township. We are extremely disappointed that criminals can disrupt the education of learners in this community.

“However, we challenge members of the community to assist and hunt the robbers by Friday, 18 January 2019, failing which we will have no choice but to withdraw all expensive equipment from the said school,” said Lesufi.

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