Workers prepare to ship out school textbooks. In Limpopo
The discovery of another load of textbooks dumped in Limpopo had been met with shock by the province's education minister Namane Dickson Masemola, his department said on Tuesday.
Spokesperson Pat Kgomo said the department would meet the police later in the day to discuss information around the dumping.
"The department, and the minister in particular, learned with shock about the dumping of books. We are, however, confident that the police will solve mystery."
Between 5 000 and 6 000 books for various subjects, ranging from grade zero to grade nine, were found dumped in the veld in Majeje, police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ronel Otto said.
"Police, along with the education department, will launch investigations in order to determine where the books came from and where they were supposed to go."
Some grades in Limpopo received textbooks seven months after the school year started, while others were still waiting. Earlier in the year, lobby group Section27 obtained a court order for textbooks to be delivered to Limpopo by June 15.
In a meeting between Section27 and the department on June 21, a revised date of June 27 was set. The textbooks were finally delivered on the revised date.
On Monday, President Jacob Zuma received a preliminary report from a presidential task team that investigated the late delivery of textbooks in Limpopo.
Zuma is studying the report and urged the task team to continue and conclude its work. He said he would pronounce on the report once the matter has been concluded.
Otto said some of the books were still in their boxes and all the books were taken to the police station for safekeeping, adding that no criminal case had been opened. – Sapa