Vuwani - At least three classrooms were burnt at the Mugoidwa Secondary School in Vuwani, Limpopo, on Tuesday night.
Parents and pupils were preparing for the first day of school after three months of violent protests that kept children out of classrooms, when the school was burnt by an alleged arsonist.
The Department of Basic Education said the attack was discouraging and was pushing the department to spend millions it does not have.
Departmental spokesperson Elaijah Mhlanga said the attack was disappointing and discouraging as efforts to end violence suffered a major setback again.
“Nothing is going to stop us... We are going to work closely with the community to make sure that we isolate people who are doing this, because it has gone beyond comprehension. It has gone to a point where, we really need to take drastic steps to ensure that we restore our education, we show respect on the future of our children,” Mhlanga said.
“This is about the future of our children, obviously this is the future of our country and this is intimidation and should not be allowed. We hope police will do their work and arrest the perpetrator.”
Mhlanga believed the attack was an intimidation tactic that should not be tolerated.
“We need to take drastic steps... This is intimidation, it must not be taken.”
One of the parents said they were optimistic that school would resume on Wednesday morning.
Beatrice Masuvhelele said she had prepared her children to return to school, but the latest arson attack sparked disbelief in the entire community of Vuwani.
Masuvhelele and other residents had on Sunday resolved that schooling would resume and the shutdown was suspended.
“We are disturbed, I had prepared (the) uniform for my child to return to school... Now I don’t know what is going to happen,” she said.
A group of police and fire services extinguished the fire which had already reduced desks, chairs and other furniture to ashes.
The school joined more than 24 schools which suffered attacks during the community protest against the decision by the Municipal Demarcation Board to incorporate the area under a new Limpopo municipality.
Residents suspended the protest when the polling stations closed on Wednesday last week after they took a decision to boycott elections.
On Election Day, they either played soccer or sat at home while other citizens cast their votes for the 2016 Local Government Elections.
It remains unclear who was behind the attack on the school.
Vuwani’s Sanco Nthangi Namadzavho condemned the attack. “We are baffled because we had a meeting on Sunday that children must focus on education as (the) shutdown has been suspended, but it’s very painful,” he said.
AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY