Lesufi confident school robbers will be found

Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi on Thursday expressed confidence that the information provided by the community of Tsakane in Ekurhuleni would yield results on who stole valuable equipment from a state-of-the-art school.

Following the break-in at Menzi Primary School on Tuesday - where all the grade 7 class's 185 tablets and grade 8 teacher laptops were stolen in the early hours of Tuesday morning - Lesufi visited the community on Thursday afternoon to ask them to provide information which would lead to the apprehension of those involved.

Speaking after the meeting, Lesufi said he was convinced that the information that the community has provided would lead police to those responsible.

“We wanted the community to demonstrate how they are going to assist us. There was a general willingness to assist,” Lesufi said.

Lesufi further added that a deadline set for Friday – which included a threat that the remaining expensive equipment at the school would be removed if there are no arrests for the robbery - remained in place.

During the meeting at the school hall, Lesufi informed the community that a security guard employed at the school had been arrested, although not linked to the robbery. Instead, the man will be charged with the possession of an unlicensed firearm.

Lesufi went on to add that despite the robbery at the mega R105m state-of-the-art township school, the department would not be discouraged from building similar facilities.

“The irony is that this school was meant to break the cycle of poverty in the community. However, we must not be discouraged by this. We will continue to build these kinds of schools.”

Lesufi said what was baffling about the robbery and the break-in at the school was that the security at the school was tight.

He said there were motion detection cameras and keys were synchronised, among a number of safety features.

“People who did this went to the nerve centre of the school's security system,” Lesufi said.

He revealed that the grade 7 learners, who now no longer have tablets, will rely on textbooks while efforts were made to find the missing tablets.