The Protea Magistrate’s Court has denied the bail application of a man who allegedly stole a Smartboard distributed by the Gauteng Department of Education.

Hundreds of classrooms around the province have been issued with Smartboards since last year as part of the department’s Paperless Classrooms project.

“The suspect was arrested on Friday last week and appeared before the Protea Magistrate court yesterday. He was found in possession of a Smartboard after it was traced to his home in Protea Glen, Soweto,” Gauteng Education Oupa Bodibe told htxt.africa

In March, the department reported over 100 Smartboards had been stolen by the end of 2015, warning that it would be pressing charges against anyone found in possession of the stolen goods.

The suspect is reportedly a Mozambican national and was denied bail as the court is still establishing whether he is in the country legally or not.

“Several Smartboards have been recovered through their tracking system which was installed early this year,” Bodibe said.

Cases of tablets that have not been returned by 2015 matric learners has been the department’s biggest headache since January, when over 16 000 had not been returned as required in December.

By March, during its latest update on the unreturned mobiles, the department said 4 000 were outstanding.

[Image – Gauteng Department of Education]