PPE worth millions of rands goes missing en route to KZN schools
Image: AFP/WANG ZHAO
Large quantities of personal protective equipment (PPE) have “disappeared” en route to KwaZulu-Natal schools.
“The MEC for education in KwaZulu-Natal, Kwazi Mshengu, has received with shock the reports of the disappearance of large quantities of PPE in the Umlazi, Pinetown and Zululand districts. It is said that the equipment disappeared en route to circuit offices and schools,” the provincial education department said on Tuesday morning.
The disappearance of the PPE makes the preparations for the reopening of schools an elusive goal, the department said.
“The replacement of these PPEs will cost the department millions of rands, money the department does not have. The MEC has directed the head of department to urgently investigate.”
On Monday morning Mshengu was at Insika High School, which had only received one, instead of two, masks per child.
During his inspection he revealed that 4,400 of the provinces 6,000 schools were ready to reopen on June 8. He added that if a school was not ready, it would not be opened.
“But we must also have a plan for those learners in that school so they are not left behind,” he said.