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The Democratic Alliance in Limpopo on Friday (27 July) launched an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act to the Provincial Education Department to have access to the department’s directives on shredding and recycling of textbooks.

So far our requests to have these documents released have been utterly ignored by the Department through its spokesperson, Pat Kgomo. His response or lack thereof has been rather disappointing for an official whose duty it is to deal with the department’s public engagement.

To put this matter into context, the DA laid criminal charges of damage to public property after we found textbooks in good condition being shredded and burnt near Seshego. The people who were doing the shredding claimed that they were acting on the Department’s instructions, ostensibly under a policy directive.

The document is there and it must be made available - the Department must after all adhere to the principles of openness and transparency.

Who made the call for people to destroy the books while Limpopo children went without any for so many months? One conclusion is inevitable: the Department is trying to conceal this information.