ON Thursday, kids who attend a farm school in rural Mpumalanga celebrated when three buses were handed over.
It meant that their long daily walk for education would be over. But joy turned to shock and anger on Saturday night when the buses were torched!
Now the kids from Esibusisweni Combined School in Panbult, near Piet Retief, have to walk the long distance to school again. The three buses were among 30 buses that had been donated by public works, roads and transport MEC Dumisile Nhlengethwa to ferry children to school in the Gert Sibande district. Department spokesman David Nkambule said they were shocked by the incident.
“The department donated the buses to make life easier for kids who walk more than 5km to school. The people who burned the buses didn’t think about the future of these children,” he said.
Nkambule said kids who didn’t have to walk quite as far to their respective schools received bicycles.
“We urge the community to help cops find the culprits. We don’t know the motive for the incident,” he said.
Brigadier Selvy Mohlala confirmed the incident and said a case of malicious damage to property had been opened.
