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Thieves have stolen large sections of the steel fence around Athlone Boys High School in Bezuidenhout Valley, Johannesburg, but it will be replaced with concrete palisades.

This information is revealed in a written reply by Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi to my questions in the Gauteng Legislature.

I took up this issue after local residents complained that stolen steel from the fence was being sold to a scrap yard, and that drug dealers were entering the school through the broken fence.

According to Lesufi, his department has included Athlone Boys on the list of high risk schools as the fence is continuously being vandalised. The whole southern part of the fence is gone.

See photos here and here.

The fence is due to be replaced in the current financial year, and I am sure that residents will be pleased when this keeps criminal elements away.

Issued by Jack Bloom MPL - DA Johannesburg East Constituency Head