About 150 schools have been vandalized during the recent wave of violence and bombings that shook South Africa, authorities said today, raising the death toll from 337 to 330.
“Educational centers and institutions have been vandalized and looted,” South African Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga said at a press conference, quoted by the Spanish news agency EFE.
The official explained that 137 schools were damaged due to incidents in KwaZulu-Natal province (east) and 11 schools in Gauteng (where Johannesburg and Pretoria are located), a province that has already been vandalized against 43 schools. since the beginning of the year.
According to Moshekgi, the total damage to the education system during the unrest in the two provinces is estimated at 300 million rand (more than 17 million euros).
During the riots in schools, baths, hydroelectric installations, plumbing, electrical installations and fences were destroyed.
Computers and kitchen equipment were also looted, and classrooms and office buildings were set on fire.
“This is unprecedented and as an education sector we are concerned about the destruction of much needed infrastructure. This is a serious setback for the industry, which is already under pressure to provide adequate conditions for the education system, ”complained Motshekga.
Despite everything, the minister hopes that on Monday, July 26, the destroyed educational centers will be able to reopen, like the rest of the schools.
The riots also resulted in the loss of 47,500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine after looting more than 120 pharmacies in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, 71 of which functioned as vaccination sites.
As for the death toll, it was revised below from 337 to 330.
“The death toll is reviewed when there is confirmation that they are associated with incidents, or when the injured have died from their injuries,” – said at a press conference, acting Minister of South African President Kumbudzo Ntshaveni.
A wave of violence began after the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma.
Zuma, 79, a former ANC president, has been imprisoned since July 7 at Estkur Correctional Center, about 150 kilometers from his home in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal countryside, for contempt of the Constitutional Court.
Source: Angola Press News Agency