225 KZN school break-ins since lockdown

Kwazi Mshengu visited Mzuvele High School in KwaMashu today - which is among the 225 schools in KZN that have been broken into since the first day of the lockdown.

On Saturday - thieves stole equipment from one of the school's offices before they set it on fire.

Mshengu has also confirmed a school in Umzimkulu was torched last night.

"It is clear now that this criminal syndicate is doing all it can to communicate whatever message it wants to communicate to government because there can be any person who simply wakes up and burns the school just for fun."

He says some arrests have been made, thanks to members of the community who've assisted police with information.

"We have been able to arrest about nine suspects with the help of the community."

Mshengu says money that had been allocated for other projects might have to be redirected to dealing with the current situation.

"There are schools that we had hoped to build during this financial year, which we are not going to build. There are schools which we needed to renovate, which we are not going to renovate. There are ICT facilities that we needed to deploy in various parts of our schools in our province. We are not going to do that now."

He says with Grade 7s and matrics set to return to school as early as next week -  they'll do everything to protect them from criminals.

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