We need harsher sentences for those who destroy schools – Motshekga

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga is lobbying for harsher sentences for vandals who destroy school infrastructure following two schools being set alight at the weekend, EWN has reported.

The two schools in Thabana village in Siyabuswa, in Mpumalanga, were allegedly set ablaze by a crowd of community members who were dissatisfied with the outcome of a by-election in the area on Wednesday, Mpumalanga police said on Saturday.

Basic education department spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga said: “We request that maybe the law be amended to ensure that people who burn schools are given lengthy jail sentences.”

Mhlanga said hundreds of pupils were without classrooms in Mpumalanga on Monday morning after the destruction.

“The children in that school have no accommodation, and teachers don’t know what to do because the school is destroyed.”

The library at Siyathokoza Secondary School in Thabana village has been burnt. Photo: ANA/Balise Mabona

The burning of the two schools marks a disturbing rise in a kind of incident South Africa has seen before. In 2016, more than 30 schools were burnt in Vuwani during protests over demarcation.

“Siyathokoza Senior Secondary School and Thabana Senior Phase School were apparently set ablaze between yesterday [Friday] evening and this [Saturday] morning,” Brigadier Leonard Hlathi said.

“The situation is quiet now, and the police are monitoring the area. No arrests have been made,” he said.

Mpumalanga education department spokesperson Jasper Zwane said there was “no justification for this barbaric act”.

“What will happen with learners on Monday, considering the fact that they are currently writing their mid-year examinations? The department will deploy officials to the two schools to assess the damage and to further advise on other related teaching and learning processes,” he said.

ANC spokesperson for the Nkangala region Sello Matshoga told the African News Agency (ANA) that violent protests in the area erupted on Thursday after the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced that ANC candidate Phumzile Mnguni beat independent candidate Lucky Ntuli.

“A crowd of people barricaded the streets and marched to the local offices of the IEC. The crowd claimed the outcome of the election was not the true reflection of the by-election. We say, we won the ward 7 fairly and they must go to court if they are not satisfied,” Matshoga said.

Ntuli had been an ANC member, but registered as an independent candidate in May and contested the by-election. He told ANA on Saturday that he rejected the outcome of the by-election because “there were many bad things that happened during the voting process”.

“The burning of the schools is a criminal element, and it has not been committed by the people who supported me,” said Ntuli.

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