Winter burglary rampage
Winter is descending, bringing with it more burglars who sneak into schools to steal anything from fences to tissues.
The president of teachers' union Naptosa, Basil Manuel, said schools around the country are limping along because of burglaries and vandalism. The Western Cape education department spent more than R7-million last year on schools that were hit by burglars.
In Gauteng, R300-million has been budgeted for general maintenance at schools. The budget factors in the cost of fixing and replacing stolen items.
"When economic times are tougher, petty crime increases," Manuel said.
"Winter always comes with more burglaries. It has to do with the fact that people are hungrier in winter maybe, but also because the cover of darkness is there earlier . and people tend to sleep earlier."
School safety coordinator in Eastern Cape Felix Mbethe agreed that burglaries increase in winter.
"It also happens more when schools are closed," Mbethe said.
Western Cape education MEC Donald Grant said: "Last year this department paid out over R7-million in repairs to schools affected by burglary and vandalism - [that] money could have been used elsewhere.
"This excludes money we spent on repairing and replacing fencing that was stolen or damaged."
Grant's spokesman, Bronagh Casey, said five incidents of burglary and vandalism were reported during the Easter holiday. A fire was started at one school, sprinklers were stolen at a school in the Cape Winelands, and "community members" shattered nine windows at another school. The repairs cost R450000.
Casey said that, in recent years, thefts of electrical cabling, copper and fencing have become more frequent.
Mbethe said there had been an increase in the theft of "any metal objects" in Eastern Cape.
Manuel, headmaster of a school in KwaZulu-Natal, said someone recently stole 20 boxes of tissues.
Schools are increasingly employing security firms and installing security cameras to combat the problem, he said. But many schools cannot afford to do this.