Shame on us

A FEW years ago pupils ran amok in townships and informal settlements retrieving furniture stolen from their schools.

Teachers' tables were used by hawkers as stalls, and unscrupulous men loaned out school chairs for funerals and weddings.

The furniture had markings peculiar to the schools but the parents in the community did not report the miscreants.

Now one of the top schools in Soweto has been hit by the same thievery. Reasoma High School opened after the public service strike to find classrooms and offices denuded of furniture and computers. Once again the nearby community is silent.

Silence is as shameful as the theft itself. That community has set a bad example of thievery and cowardice. Our children learn in ill-equipped schools.

We always blame the government for lack of delivery. This time the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the community, which thinks nothing of the exploitation of its children.