A concerned local community is fed up with a spate of burglaries and thefts at their local primary school.

More than 10 cases of house breaking and theft have been reported at Mvudi Primary School, near Thohoyandou, over the past two years and valuables worth thousands of rands have been stolen. The thugs have turned the school into a brothel and used condoms are found on the school premises every morning.

Members of the SAPS, parents, educators and learners said enough was enough and they gathered at the school to find a solution to get rid of the thugs. The emotional community members converged at the school last week, on Wednesday. "We have 739 young kids here at our school and we are concerned to find them playing with used condoms each morning. Some of them innocently pour water in them and drink while others fill them with air for fun," said school principal Erica Dzhivhuwo.

Dzhivhuwo said the burglaries at the school have made it very difficult for learning to take place: "This place has been broken into more than ten times in the past two years. Valuables like the school’s music system, cash and stationery have already been stolen. It is now unsafe to be here and learning is very difficult because of these thugs. Our staff room is burglarproof, but that does not stop the thugs from destroying us. In most of the burglaries, it has been very difficult to track down the thieves and they just vanish into thin air. We have been battling to raise funds to erect a fence around the school but our finances do not allow us."

Addressing learners, parents and other community stakeholders, Supt Ailwei Mushavhanamadi of the Limpopo Provincial Communication and Liaison Services, said: "We are taking the spate of burglaries here at the school in a very serious light because school is supposed to be a safe place where learning takes place without fear. Safety at school is very important and there is a need for different stakeholders to come together to fight crime. We thought the best thing was to speak to different stakeholders at the school to try and find solutions on how to stop the burglaries at this school. The burglaries at this school are committed by community members who stay among us and it is our job to break the silence. Police alone cannot win this war against the thugs at this school and it is our collective duty to fight crime together."

Mushavhanamadi urged parents, learners and community members to report any criminal activities as soon as possible. He asked learners to report any crime like theft, sexual abuse and rape to their teachers, police or parents whenever they come across it. "We are very impressed by the undertaking that we have made here today to fight crime together to make this school a better learning place. We will act on any tip-off that we receive from the community."

The SAPS also used the opportunity to hand out promotional material like crime awareness leaflets, cups and rulers to the learners, educators and community members.