PARENTS of pupils at Thandokuhle Primary School in J section KwaMashu, north of Durban, are worried about the school.
The concern comes after a block of new classrooms was vandalised, allegedly by residents.
The classrooms, which were built to accommodate more pupils and avoid overcrowding, are now unusable.
The ceiling, doors, windows and even the walls are damaged.
Window glasses are scattered on the floors. One of the classrooms looks like a dump site, with rubbish all over the floor. Residents describe the damage to the school as an act of ungratefulness by those who don't want to see progress.
A resident, Nkazimulo Nkabinde, said in 2023 they heard stories of people entering the school through the broken fence and going to the new block of classrooms to damage them.
"When I heard this, I couldn't believe it was true. It's hard to believe that people can do such a terrible thing," he said.
He said with the help of other residents, they tried to find out who are the culprits, but this was unsuccessful.
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Another resident, Nonhlanhla Mkhize, said what is sad is that vandals also destroyed some of the textbooks meant to help the pupils.
"Clearly, this act of vandalism is meant to destroy the future of our children. But the question is, why would they do that? This school has been around for years and most of us are former pupils. To see people damaging it in this manner is heartbreaking. We appeal to them to stop," Nonhlanhla said.
She said they were appealing to the Department of Education to fix the vandalised classrooms and beef up security at the school.
"If the department doesn't intervene, the entire school might be affected," she said.
KZN Department of Education spokesman, Muzi Mahlambi said: "As the community, they don't address the matter but say if the department doesn't put windows and doors that have been damaged, more will be taken out. This doesn't add up."
