New textbooks dumped next to court

2012-09-06 10:31

Dumped textbooks (File, Beeld)

Johannesburg - More than 200 new school textbooks were found dumped next to the Polokwane Magistrate's Court in Limpopo, it was reported on Thursday.

It was the latest in a series of discarded book cache discoveries since July 2012, Beeld reported.

The books found on Wednesday were syllabus textbooks for English and Afrikaans for different grades.
Police said they were investigating the incident.

Meanwhile the Limpopo education department has refused to divulge information on its policy on destroying old school textbooks.

Democratic Alliance spokesperson for education in Limpopo, Desiree van der Walt, said the department had until Friday to release the information.

"If they don't do it, we're going to ask the Human Rights Commission to investigate the issue," she said.

The DA asked the department over a month ago, in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act of 2000, to disclose information about its policy.

Van der Walt said it looked as though the department "either did not understand that information in any democracy has to be made public, or that the books were destroyed without the necessary authority".

Education department spokesperson Pat Kgomo did not respond to queries about the issue on Wednesday.

- SAPA