MEC for Finance, Mrs Belinda Scott, has called on the people of Jozini to work with the police to arrest people who vandalise and steal school properties in the area.
Residents told MEC Scott that Hlazazane High School and Gujini Primary School had fallen victims of serial break-ins, theft and vandalism.
She was here as part of the Provincial Government Operation Sukuma Sakhe programme. Scott was deployed at Ward 4 of Jozini Municipality in uMkhanyakude where she visited Hlazazane High School and Gujini Primary School before meeting with the community at Gujini Hall.
Residents told MEC Scott that the schools had fallen victims of serial break-ins, theft and vandalism. She responded that residents must forge good relationship with the South African Police Services.
"You know who these people are. As a community, we have to put a stop to it. Every single time that a member of the community or someone from outside of the community come into this community and destroy schools, steal furniture from schools, the people that will suffer is your children.
"As a community you have to stand up and develop a good relationship with the police and ensure that you give them the co-operation they need so that we can stop this vandalism.
"It is very painful to see that there have been intervention by the department of education (which have been extremely expensive) only to find that when the security guard is not there at night, that people come in, smash the windows and steal inside the school. This kind of activity has got to stop," she said.
Residents also raised many service delivery and development-related issues, including water shortages, need for houses, electricity, and access roads.
Scott said she would report the issues to the cabinet for more interventions.
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