The KwaZulu-Natal education department is searching for two mobile libraries stolen from its offices in Durban on Friday.
The two buses were part of a fleet of 11 mobile libraries donated by Japan’s Together with Asia and Africa Association.
”One of the stolen buses is a Toyota bus and the other one is a Mitsubishi. They are white with single yellow lines and two blue stripes painted at the bottom. They have Japanese writing on the white paint,” said Christi Naude, the department’s spokesperson.
According to Naude, four men hotwired the buses and followed an education department employee’s car out of the premises when the security guard opened the gate. The guard thought that they were following the employee, Naude said.
”Reading forms the basis of all learning. The mobile buses are a solution to schools that do not have libraries. By stealing these buses, thousands of children have been robbed,” said Naude.
She said the department is pleading with anyone who has seen these two buses to report the matter at the Umbilo police station at Tel: 031 203 2405. — Sapa