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SINCE last year, Cathkin Se?condary School in Athlone has reported more than 40 cases of vandalism.

With his shoulders slumped and a despondent voice, Charles Jongbloed, the school's caretaker and maintenance man, says, "Let me show you around".

Our first stop is at the foot of the staircase leading to the top level. Jongbloed stops and points towards the ceiling: it has a huge, gaping hole and the walls are covered in scribbles and graffiti.

Further along the tour, Jongbloed goes to the boys' toilets. The ceiling is also in tatters and walls plastered with foul language. Some of the taps are missing, as are a few copper pipes.

The pipes at the urinals are replaced with plastic pipes in the hope of them lasting a little longer, as plastic does not have the re-sale value of copper.

The home economic class's cei?ling also sports a gaping hole, as well as a list of equipment stolen from the class.

In utter despair, Jongbloed goes down the list: "All the taps were stolen, all the stoves had their wires ripped out, the geysers were stolen and a brand new fridge is also broken beyond repair. The water from the ripped out pipes flooded the classroom knee-high."

The teacher who discovered the room was very distraught and is currently on stress leave.

Other classes are also terribly vandalised. Jongbloed says today's burglars break in through the roof to gain access to the school.

Once they are in they go straight for the rooms with the most copper. He says they will steal anything they can re-sell for money for tik.

"We are continuously repairing break-in damage. These burglars sell their loot for R50 or R100, while we are left with repair bills of R19 000," says Jongbloed.

With anger in his voice, he says seven men who broke in were released on bail.

The others were under-age and could not be jailed. The total da?mage amounts to R100 000.

Jongbloed says the Education Department has identified Cathkin as one of the high-risk schools in the Western Cape, yet it still has not provided the school with security.

Roy Prinsloo, the history teacher, says many other schools in the province experience the same problems as Cathkin does, and schools in the area should meet to discuss strategies they could implement to improve matters.

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