Lesufi ‘devastated’ after equipment worth R3m stolen from Soweto school

[schumi]

JOHANNESBURG - Provincial Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi on Saturday said Esithebeni Primary School in Soweto was broken into on Friday night and over R3 million worth of equipment was stolen.
These include office computers, computer lab equipment and learner’s smart boards.
Lesufi, who visited the school, said his government was devastated at the theft: “…And for someone to come in and do these things in our primary schools breaks our heart. We are honestly emotionally drained and devasted,

Pics in link:

Lesufi ‘devastated’ after equipment worth R3m stolen from Soweto school

These include office computers, computer lab equipment and learner’s smart boards.

ewn.co.za

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

yeah that was totally unexpected and unpredictable

 

[wbot]

Unguarded computers and stuff worth 3mil in a no security township school... what could go wrong

 

[konfab]

Yet the government stealing a R25 million farm from a private person is seen by lobotomites like Lesufi as "justice"

 

[R13...]

What sort of school equipment costs R3m? Those smart boards are nothing but big monitors and those would be the big ticket items. Unless he's buying at "special" prices they'd need a few trucks to carry away equipment worth that much

 

[Packer]

Unless he's buying at "special" prices they'd need a few trucks to carry away equipment worth that much

I agree. There's something fishy going on. Lesufi crying crocodile tears about theft. I smell the stink of corruption.

 

[Johnatan56]

What sort of school equipment costs R3m? Those smart boards are nothing but big monitors and those would be the big ticket items. Unless he's buying at "special" prices they'd need a few trucks to carry away equipment worth that much

A smart board is anywhere between R20-90k depending on model, this is before South African taxes, import, before install, not counting that you also need a PC, etc.
Hitting R3m by just stealing smart boards and PC's is doable.

 

[DreamKing]

viva anc .... viva .....

 

[Knyro]

A smart board is anywhere between R20-90k depending on model, this is before South African taxes, import, before install, not counting that you also need a PC, etc.
Hitting R3m by just stealing smart boards and PC's is doable.

But its not like you have them in every single classroom, and a PC good enough for schoolwork is like 10k max, no graphics cards or high-powered processors needed. You'd need 100 PCs just to hit a million.

Nah, there was definitely some corruption when it came to procurement.

 

[Johnatan56]

But its not like you have them in every single classroom, and a PC good enough for schoolwork is like 10k max, no graphics cards or high-powered processors needed. You'd need 100 PCs just to hit a million.

Nah, there was definitely some corruption when it came to procurement.

Most of the time you do do that though. I know my old school did for any classroom post 4th grade (think it's now 3rd and up), but was a private school.
Build a cheap device including peripherals, that starts at R10k about, here is pretty much the cheapest on Wootware: https://www.wootware.co.za/lenovo-1...hdd-windows-10-home-64-bit-all-in-one-pc.html
But then you can argue that schools get Windows Education, so knock off R500 or so, then VAT write-off, so could probably go R8.5k if bulk purchase for crappy devices.

You could go cheaper with custom build and stuff, but you won't custom build that many machines. You could also approach e.g. Dell or something and get bulk supply + they would probably give a discount for schools.

Saying that though, R10k*30 = R300k, I'd assume two labs = R600k if you buy the cheapest stuff. Then 2 400k / 60k = 40 to 2 400k / 15k = 160 without assuming any extra device or extra costs from import duties, shipping, taxes, etc.

R3m is possible, but yeah, without knowing the exact set-up it's quite possible corruption/inflated tender.

 

[SoldierMan]

But isn't this is that elusive ubuntu at work, share and share alike.

 

[Mila]

Not the first time Le-uselessness has been ‘devastated’ about a school being robbed.

 

[supersunbird]

He should worry less about Afrikaners and their doings and focus on other people...

 

[R13...]

He should worry less about Afrikaners and their doings and focus on other people...

At the bottom of the article someone says, "at least the thieves didn't steal in Afrikaans" lol

 

[Creag]

Not the first time Le-uselessness has been ‘devastated’ about a school being robbed.

Vouch for this ^ yet he/they learn nothing from experience.

/facepalm

 

[ShaunSA]

Ai fooi tog. Did he cry into his hanky?

 

[ponder]

Nah, there was definitely some corruption when it came to procurement.

Tender inflation & bias with kickbacks is a thing. Yonks ago working for a huge network provider we tendered a cisco solution as specified to a big metro. Speaking to the soon to retire gov head of it he explained to us how things work using an example of the guys cutting the grass next to highways, the bee bidder gets the contract at 5-10 times the price of the non-bee company and they subcontract the non-bee company to do the work and don't lift a finger. The network kit we used in the design was basically at cost as the company had the biggest partner discounts of any company in africa, we knew exactly what the partner discounts were for all the other players. The final design was mine but awarded to some unheard of company that had no chance of meeting the support side of the contract or remotely matching the price. That is how gov tenders work and it's at the expense of taxpayers and society.

 

[pinball wizard]

Better stolen than burnt in the next riot. At least someone will use it at some point now.

 

[GhostSixFour]

But its not like you have them in every single classroom, and a PC good enough for schoolwork is like 10k max, no graphics cards or high-powered processors needed. You'd need 100 PCs just to hit a million.

Nah, there was definitely some corruption when it came to procurement.

To be fair though, most school work can be achieved by a raspberry PI strapped to the back of a monitor. You might need a couple of higher end pc's here and there, but mostly, you'd be ok with raspberry PI's.

 

[mikef]

But then you can argue that schools get Windows Education, so knock off R500 or so, then VAT write-off, so could probably go R8.5k if bulk purchase for crappy devices.

Just a question - why do you discount the VAT cost - to the best of my knowledge schools are not allowed to deduct VAT?