
Parents, learners and teachers at Sibongumbomvu Combined School in Howick, KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, are reeling after its entire batch of computers was stolen weeks after being donated.
The incident occurred in the early hours of 13 May 2025, just weeks after the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies handed over a brand-new cyberlab to the school. Criminals looted the entire facility, stealing 20 donated laptops, the school’s own IT equipment, and causing extensive infrastructure damage.
According to a joint statement from Edwin Macrae Bath (MP) and Sakhile Mngadi (MPL), who serves on KwaZulu-Natal’s education portfolio committee, this was no random crime.
They said initial evidence suggests the crime was carried out by individuals with inside knowledge of the school’s layout and security measures, adding it was targeted and calculated – a strategic hit against progress in one of our province’s most under-resourced communities.
“This cyberlab was not just a room filled with machines—it was a bridge between rural learners and the digital future. It was built to offer coding, robotics, and digital literacy skills to a generation that urgently needs access to 21st-century tools. That dream has now been torn apart.”
Bath and Mngandi have since written to the KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner, Lt General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, to demand the immediate deployment of a dedicated task team to investigate the incident, with a clear timeline for arrests and public updates on progress.
“We also demand accountability from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education… This is more than just a stolen resource. It is a stolen future,” read the joint statement.