The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) provided the following statistics to the Cape Argus on 28 August 2008, on the newspaper's request.

Schools reported 494 cases of burglary or vandalism to the WCED's Safe Schools Call Centre during the first seven months of 2008, compared to 574 for the same period last year.

The figures suggest an average of 70 cases a month in 2008 so far, compared to an average of 82 for the same period last year.

Schools reported 74 cases in July this year, compared to 139 in July last year. The figures suggest a higher incidence of vandalism during the 2007 July holiday.

Comment: Reasons for the decline in the number of incidents during the July 2008 holiday could include an extensive holiday programme organised at selected schools by the Safe School's Division.