Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Micheal Waters MPL.
Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s government has cancelled the province’s school safety contract, citing “financial constraints.” This despite the fact that Gauteng schools becoming crime scenes with dangerous weapons and substances such as guns, knives and drugs regularly being found on school grounds.
Across Gauteng, children and teachers are going to school in fear. Teachers lock themselves in staff rooms. Parents wait for the next call about violence at their child’s school. This reckless decision has left thousands of learners and teachers completely unprotected.
The Gauteng Department of Education’s (GDE) replacement “patrollers” are not trained under Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA) standards, meaning they are not qualified security guards. They provide a false sense of safety, while learners are exposed to daily danger.
Even worse, these patrollers only work during school hours leaving schools wide open to burglaries, vandalism, and theft after hours, over weekends, and during holidays.
The department identified 75 high-crime schools, yet even these have been left without proper security. There is now nothing standing between Gauteng’s learners and the growing wave of violence sweeping through our schools.
Lesufi’s administration decision to cut safety contracts in the name of “cost savings” exposes a government that does not understand its most basic duty to protect children.
It is another sign of a failing and distracted administration more interested in flashy announcements than in keeping learners safe.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes that no child should go to school afraid.
A caring and capable government would prioritise safety as the foundation of learning.
The DA will write to Premier Lesufi demanding the following urgent actions:
- Reinstating a funded and professionalised school safety programme with trained, PSIRA-certified guards.
- Work with SAPS and community policing forums to secure schools after hours, especially in high-risk areas.
- Audit all schools where weapons or drugs have been found and present a turnaround plan to the Legislature within 30 days.
- Redirect wasteful expenditure to protect learners and teachers first.
- Investigate the installation of metal detectors and other safety technology at high-risk schools.
The DA in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) will continue to drive this issue until every child and teacher can learn and work in a safe environment.
A government that truly cares would never gamble with children’s lives. A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would restore safety, discipline, and hope to province’s schools bringing the promise of a better, safer future for every learner.