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Drugs worth R6m found in bus

Drugs worth R6-million were found in a bus on the N1 highway near Beaufort West on Tuesday, Western Cape police said.

Captain Bernadine Steyn said the bus was stopped by police who were searching cars on the highway around 2am.

Heroin weighing 7kg with a street value of R6-million was found in the bus and 950 Mandrax tablets with a street value of R47 500 were also found in the bus's luggage compartment, Steyn said.

The bus was going to Johannesburg to Cape Town.

Nobody was arrested in connection with the drugs and police were investigating.

- Sapa

We'll jail booze kids

TEACHERS and parents, gatvol with bunking pupils, have welcomed calls for the arrest of pupils found loitering during school hours.

Mpumalanga is leading the way with safety and security MEC Vusi Shongwe on Friday ordering the police to arrest schoolchildren found roaming the streets in school uniform during school hours.

"We'll jail booze kids"

Pappa wag vir julle jonge dronkgatte!

"We will also arrest pupils found in taverns or shebeens during school hours," Shongwe said.

The latest tough stance highlights a hardening attitude towards rampant ill discipline among pupils as the new school year unfolds.

The call has received support from teachers and parents alike. They said it was long overdue.

Last week Limpopo health and social development MEC Miriam Segabutla complained that hair styles and make-up had negatively contributed to the dismal performance of female matriculants.

She felt the time children spent titivating could best be used to improve their performance.

Segabutla also warned that pupils who did not adhere to dress codes "will be dealt with".



She was addressing hundreds of pupils at Mopje Secondary School in Bolobedu South, which had the worst provincial matric pass rate.

A day later executive mayor for the Mopani district municipality Joshua Matlou told pupils that designer clothes and shoes were not permitted at school.

Pupils grumbled.

"He is jealous because during years of schooling he did not have the luxury to dress as he pleased," said one pupil.

In Soweto last week pupils photographed drinking alcohol in the street on their way to school have since been suspended.

Ronny Makalla of Lefiso Village in Mpumalanga, whose child is in Grade 10, praised the MEC.

"We as parents expect our children to be in class seven hours a day. If they do illegal things we will now be made aware of it.

"I was so shocked when I saw in the Sowetan last week pupils sipping cider on their way to school late. What we saw clearly is the tip of an iceberg and something needs to be done."

A teacher, Dintlhana Moagi of Malatse High School in Mpumalanga, said: "This call is long overdue and why limit it to Mpumalanga? It should apply to other provinces as well."

Boas Ramollo, a teacher at Dikgabo Combined School in Lefiso village, said: "This call by the MEC will surely enhance the culture of teaching and learning at our schools and help maintain discipline among our pupils."

Angel Ally, a teacher at Thembeka Secondary in KaNyamazane, said: "This will certainly help our children focus on their studies because they won't be hanging around in townships during school hours."

Ally said pupils arrived early, but most classes were half empty after break as pupils go to nearby taverns.

"We as teachers are then blamed when they fail at the end of year."

- Sowetan

KNP ‘might ban booze’

The Kruger National Park is considering a ban on liquor for day visitors, Beeld newspaper reported on Saturday.

Sanparks chief executive David Mabunda said the international tourist attraction recently received 130 complaints of drunken driving, animal abuse, disturbing the peace and even skinny dipping in a space of just two weeks.

“There is a lack of respect for the park. People ignore rules and regulations and alcohol abuse is a big problem,” said Mabunda.

Although management still needed to make a final decision on the proposal to ban day visitors from taking alcohol into the park, the new rule may be implemented as soon as the Easter Weekend, the report said.

- Sapa

School of HIGHER learning

PUPILS at Boitumelong High School in Thembisa will attend classes in a yard infested with dagga plants.

Situated in Sedibeng Section, the school's backyard has dagga plants that cover the size of a soccer field.

According to the local councillor the plants have been growing at the school for a long time but they only realised that they were dagga plants in 2008.

When Sowetan visited the school on Sunday we found that some of the plants were about 2m tall. Young men and boys as young as 12 years old were picking the dagga.

We asked people passing by if they were aware that there was dagga at the school and the response was shocking. Everyone knew about the plants. Even a seven-year-old boy said: "I can show you what a dagga plant looks like. People smoke it every day in the yard."

One resident, who lives near the school, said: "In this section most people smoke dagga daily because they get it for free. It is a way of life for some of the youths around here. We are not happy about it but what can we do?"

Another resident said the previous principal allowed them to use the land to grow vegetables but they were later chased away.

"We used to grow vegetables in that space but we were chased away because the profit we made did not go into the school funds."

Sowetan has been writing articles about the dagga plantation for the past three years and there is still no permanent plan to get rid of the plants.

In 2008 and 2009 the Thembisa police uprooted and burnt plants worth more than R4million. Now it looks as if nothing had been done.

Councillor Vincent Hlatshwayo said uprooting the plants was "useless because the plants grew back during rainy seasons".

He said the space was supposed to be a soccer field.

The education department did not respond to questions sent to them on Monday.

- Sowetan