Thieves Use Dynamite To Blow Safes Open In Four Bulawayo Schools In One Month

THE Government will soon ban schools from handling cash and order them to use banks for all transactions following a rise in the use of dynamite to bomb safes by robbers who raided four schools in Bulawayo last month, getting away with cash and property running into thousands of dollars.

The use of dynamite in bombing safes started in South Africa when bank robbers started using explosives to blow up Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).

According to a source in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, the ban will follow recommendations made by the police to curb rampant dynamite robbing cases in schools.

Robbers used dynamites to bomb Tategulu Primary School in Cowdray Park and Senzangakhona Primary School in Emganwini getting away with $1 300 and $1 800 respectively. They also bombed Sikhulile High School and Mthimkhulu Primary School in Lobengula West and Magwegwe West but police had no ready figures about the stolen cash.

The source said among the recommendations that the police made was that in the event that the schools handle cash, the money should not be kept overnight at the premises but banked at midday.

“Following the bombing of the schools in the city, police recommended that schools should not handle cash but use banks for all their transactions. The ministry will soon put into effect the recommendations so that we curb the robberies. Robbers are currently enticed to raid schools because they know they handle large sums of money some of which was being kept in safes at schools,” he said.

He said the recommendations were being studied and measures would soon be taken as robberies have caused alarm in the education sector. The dynamite tactics of robbing are reportedly a new phenomenon in the country, with only Bulawayo experiencing them out of all the country’s 10 provinces.

Reports said the new wave was being influenced by this part of the country’s close proximity to South Africa where such cases were rampant.

National police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi last week confirmed that Bulawayo was the only province which has experienced such kind of robberies.

“It’s surprising that these robberies are only concentrated in Bulawayo where four schools have been recorded to have been bombed using dynamites. These robberies were happening during the early days of opening of schools. The other issue of concern is that the robbers target exactly where the money is, which makes it very suspicious,” said Chief Sup Nyathi.

“We want to appeal to schools that all their transactions should be handled through the school’s account at the bank.

“They should not keep money at their school premises. We also want to warn those who harbour such motives of robbing schools that the long arm of the law will catch up with them. As police we are going to increase our surveillance to curb the vice.
Source – sundaynews