The police on Friday confirmed that 50 schools had been closed in South Africa’s Limpopo province following days of street battle between protestors and the police.
There was widespread anger in several communities following the Municipal Demarcation Board’s decision to incorporate villages into the new Malamulele Municipality where there had been poor record of service delivery.
The demonstrators are demanding to remain in the neighbouring Makhado Municipality.
The police said that the protestors had completely destroyed 24 schools and partially damaged five others.
The authorities said that 15 people had been arrested on charges of destroying public property.
President Jacob Zuma had on Thursday told Parliament that the entire country should be alarmed by the violence.
“There are a lot of motives behind it. It looks suspicious and I hope the country is taking note of this,” Zuma said.
Co-operative Governance Minister, Des van Rooyen, had urged the protestors to appeal the board’s decision to re-zone their area.
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union called on government to declare a national disaster so that mobile classrooms could be deployed to allow affected students to continue their education.