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A police investigation has led to the recovery of 16 tablets and 3 laptops believed to have been stolen from newly opened Menzi Primary School in Ekurhuleni in the early hours of Tuesday.
According to Gauteng department of education spokesperson Steve Mabona, the items were found at a store on the corner of Mooi and Helen Joseph streets in Johannesburg.
The state-of-the-art primary school was robbed just a week after education MEC Panyaza Lesufi opened the facility and asked Tsakane residents to look after it.
Items stolen included 185 tablets, eight laptops, two projectors and three desktop computers. A plasma TV and R500 in petty cash were also taken.
Lesufi said the department received a call informing it that devices believed to have been stolen from the school were being sold at the shop.
"We rushed to the scene, and some of the devices indeed resembled our devices. But we have put our IT team to assist the police with the relevant information," Lesufi said.
He said the shop was still a crime scene and police were concluding investigations there.
READ: State-of-the-art Tsakane school robbed of tablets, laptops, TV and cash
Lesufi said once the police had released a report the department would give a more detailed statement regarding whether the devices are indeed those that belong to the school.
Lesufi added that the department was concerned that shops dealing in stolen goods were operating "normally".
"We are requesting people giving permission to these kinds of shops to re-look at those permissions, because if the shop is operating as a normal shop, but behind, people are operating an illegal activity, surely you will agree with me that that kind of shop does not qualify to operate," Lesufi said.
On Thursday Lesufi visited the community of Tsakane to get answers regarding the incident at the school.
He threatened that if no information was forthcoming, the department would have no choice but to withdraw all expensive equipment from the school.
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