By Slindile Maluleka
Electricity and copper bandits are leaving a trail of death and destruction at a Durban school, where staff and pupils face terrifying risks daily.
Over the past eight years, eight children of Mayville Primary School had died in the surrounding area after coming into contact with exposed wires from illegal power connections, teachers said. The latest victim was a 10-year-old boy who died on March 1.
The wires are connected to an electricity cable next to a wall that supplies a block of classrooms and runs over the wall, through the trees, and then into nearby homes.
"I have been held at gunpoint by a mob demanding that I turn on the school's main switch (for) electricity supply," said a teacher who did not want to be named. "The mob turned on teachers and pupils after they realised that there was no electricity running into their homes."
A lock for the school's main power switch has been broken twice and cables tampered with.
"When it rains or the cable is overloaded, it overheats and burns," said the teacher.
Since 2003, the primary school - situated in the Cato Manor informal settlement - has suffered a human toll with the loss of Ntando Ngcobo, 6, Mxolisi Bayeni, 16, Sphesihle Cebekhulu, 8, Nhlanhla Mbele, 7, and four others, the most recent victim being Vukile Zondi, 10, who was electrocuted on March 1, while he was playing in a neighbour's yard.
There have been eight confirmed deaths but the school was unable to provide the names of three pupils.
The bandits have also vandalised school property, broken the gate locks several times and stolen metal or copper objects, which included aluminium taps, door handles, sewage metal drain covers, copper pipes, metal sinks and metal from desks and chairs.
The provincial Department of Education has promised to do whatever it can to protect the teachers and pupils while eThekwini Municipality officials said they would send security guards to the area.
Electricity theft is a problem being experienced across the country.
Power theft has resulted in losses of more than R100-million annually to the municipality over the past five years, and Energy Minister Dipuo Peters, in a written response to a parliamentary question last week, said illegal electricity connections were among non-technical losses that had cost Eskom nearly R1-billion in revenue in the 2008/09 financial year.
At a memorial service held recently, staff and pupils at Mayville Primary paid their respects to those pupils who had died.
They also displayed placards discouraging illegal electricity connections as part of a campaign to create community awareness of the problem.
For Busi Zondi, 45, also a resident of the informal settlement, the problem had tragic consequences and she is battling to come to terms with the death of her son, Vukile.
"My baby was not much of a talker but out of the blue, he would always say, 'Mom, I love you very much'," Zondi said.
A school source said many letters outlining the issues facing the school had been sent to the education department, but as yet there had been no response.
"The school does not have security because it is not affordable. About 60 percent of the parents whose children attend the school are unemployed," the source said.
"These issues have affected the school and it has become an environment in which it is not fit for pupils to learn."
Mayville Secondary School, situated adjacent to the primary school, is also facing illegal electricity connections and vandalism.
On the issue of illegal connections in the Cato Manor informal settlement, Nathi Nkwanyana, the municipality's senior manager for revenue protection, said the department would deploy security guards to patrol the area.
"The department sends people to disconnect electricity that has been illegally connected. But as soon as they have left, the illegal connections are put back again," Nkwanyana said.
Mlungisi Ntombela, a district manager with the education department, said he was aware of the school's concerns.
"The pupils at the school are in danger and they cannot even participate in physical education anymore because of the illegal electricity wiring that runs through the sports grounds," Ntombela said.
"The department was also informed that those who make these illegal connections act as electricity landlords and supply other residents within the informal settlement for monthly payments."
The illegal connections would be removed, he said, and a meeting would be held with the school management and parents so that they could take decisions on how best to protect their school.