The Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga condemns in the strongest possible terms the destruction of school infrastructure during protest action in Vuwani, Limpopo.
The issues of protestors become obsolete when they resort to criminality that has a devastating effect on the future of children in these communities.
The destruction of school property has caused severe destruction to education services in the area. These violent protests will only worsen the situation of the learners who were already negatively affected by the protests in 2015.
What makes things worse is that when these schools are destroyed by malicious arson attacks as has been the case, it is not only the infrastructure that is destroyed, school records are destroyed as well as books and school furniture. These actions by community members have severely jeopardised the future of every individual learner who attends the schools that have been vandalised.
“The actions of protestors severely undermine government efforts to improve the quality of education for learners. It is not only a waste of taxpayers’ money to lose valuable existing infrastructure but disrespects the hard work of every law abiding member of society,” said Minister Motshekga.
As Government we are in the process of replacing unsuitable infrastructure. To destroy perfectly good infrastructure is counter intuitive to ensuring a better life for people from that community. As a result of the actions of these protestors these schools will go to the back of an already existing waiting list of schools in need of infrastructure upgrades.
“We call on communities to stop the criminal destruction of schools and ensure that schools are havens where education is protected at all costs,” said Minister Motshekga.
Education officials in the province are working closely with law enforcement agencies in a bid to get communities to come on board and ensure that schools are no go zones when it comes to violent protests. We need to work together to ensure that as society we condemn the actions of protestors.
Enquiries:
Elijah Mhlanga
Cell: 083 580 8275
Troy Martens
Cell: 079 899 3070
