The Gauteng education MEC for education says the department is “heartbroken” by a “senseless act of violence” in which a 19-year-old grade 11 pupil was stabbed to death, allegedly by a matriculant at Lesedi secondary school in Pretoria.
The incident happened on Tuesday.
“According to preliminary reports, the grade 12 learner had not attended school that day but allegedly arrived after school, just as learners were boarding their scholar transports, and proceeded to stab the grade 11 learner just outside the schoolyard,” said Matome Chiloane.
Learners must understand that violence has life-altering consequences. Such actions will not only remove you from the classroom, but may ultimately place you behind bars,
— Matome Chiloane, MEC for education
“The victim was rushed to Lethabong healthcare clinic, where he was sadly certified dead on arrival.”
Chiloane said schools must remain spaces of learning, safety, and hope, not breeding grounds for brutality and violence. He said the education department strongly condemns all forms of violence in and around schools.
“We are heartbroken by this senseless act of violence,” Chiloane said. “No child should ever lose their life in the pursuit of education. We extend our deepest condolences to the family and the school community during this incredibly painful time.
“Learners must understand that violence has life-altering consequences. Such actions will not only remove you from the classroom, but may ultimately place you behind bars,” he said.
Education department spokesperson Steve Mabona said the department had dispatched a team of psychologists and the school safety unit to the school to provide trauma counselling to the affected learners and educators, while strengthening safety interventions at the school.
Gauteng police spokesperson Col Mavela Masondo said police are investigating the murder and looking for the suspect.
“The deceased was attacked by the suspect, who stabbed him on the upper body. Police are searching for a grade 12 learner from the same school who is a person of interest in this case.”
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