WATCH | Knife, dagga found during school search in Gauteng

A knife, a fork, vapes and sachets of dagga were confiscated during a stop-and-search operation conducted at Badirile Secondary School in Khutsong, Carletonville, on Tuesday morning.

The Gauteng department of education held the operation with SAPS, supported by Gauteng traffic police, traffic wardens, community policing forums (CPFs), patrollers and community members. It forms part of the provincial government’s school safety strategy aimed at tackling violence, bullying and crime in schools.

MEC Lebogang Maile said the school had been identified as a hotspot for crime and violence following complaints received during stakeholder engagements over the past three months.

“We received a lot of complaints about violence and crime in schools, and one of the short-term interventions is to conduct regular searches with the police,” Maile said.

Some pupils had threatened teachers with violence and certain individuals attended the school only to intimidate educators and fellow pupils rather than to learn, he said.

“There are kids here who threaten teachers that they will call zama zamas and criminals to murder educators. There are learners involved in gangsterism and some are not attending classes at all. They come to school to terrorise other learners and educators.”

SAPS Col Dorette Greyling said more than 10 criminal cases linked to the school had been reported between January and July this year. Greyling said officers, including the SAPS K9 unit with narcotics detection dogs, participated in the operation.

“Among the confiscated items today were a knife, a fork found in the bathrooms, dagga zol, sachets of dagga and vapes,” she said.

“It was quite a successful operation and we will continue conducting regular operations with all law enforcement agencies.”

The MEC and the group later went to a school in Orange Farm were a grade 12 pupil was found in possession of two sachets of dagga.

According to educators at Thetha Secondary School the pupil is one of the top performers and the police believe he could be the supplier as he was also found with money inside a cigarette box.

Sowetan