The deaths of two pupils in Alexandra allegedly at the hands of fellow learners have raised the spectre of violence, drug use and even gangsterism among school-going children in the community.
A 14-year-old girl from Pholosho Junior Secondary School is expected to appear in the Alexandra magistrate’s court today on a charge of murder after she allegedly stabbed her 16-year-old boyfriend from Alexandra High School last week.
Although the incident, according to the Gauteng department of education and police, occurred after school, it happened just more than two weeks after another pupil, Qayiya Mgaye, 15, was stabbed to death by a fellow learner during an apparent gang-related fight. The pupils are both from Pholosho, where it has been alleged that some learners belong to different gangs in the township.
Both incidents have rocked the community of the troubled township, with the school governing body (SGB) and community activists blaming the increase in violent incidents involving school kids on drugs and alcohol.
Kenneth Vickerman, secretary of the SGB at Pholosho, said the rise in cases of violence among the youth was the manifestation of the general misbehavior triggered by alcohol abuse in Alexandra.
“There is a demon lurking in Alexandria because this is not only a Pholosho problem but a general pandemic in this township. The last incident was a matter between two young lovers that got out of hand. We are still trying to establish if alcohol or drugs had something to do with it.
“We live in small houses where there is lots of alcohol abuse and domestic violence and children mimic what their parents do in front of them. The violence that we see now at our schools is bred from homes where these children are raised,” said Vickerman.
Community members told Sowetan at the weekend of how violence perpetrated by school learners has escalated and that some parents had their hands tied.
The family of the latest victim of the violence who remains unidentified refused to speak to Sowetan, saying they were still too distraught to speak.
A group of six teenagers aged between 11 and 13 years, whom we found smoking a hubbly bubbly, said the township was under siege from gangs.
“Gangs rule Alexandra. Government must just close schools in Alex or deploy police in all schools here or else we are all going to die from killing one another. Government must come and save us from ourselves before we wipe each other out,” said 13-year-old ring leader Thabo*.
According to the pupils, several gangs prowl the streets of Alexandra and most started out as Izikhothane, who dressed in fancy clothes to compete against each other in dance battles to determine which group is wealthier.
“This then developed into beefing, which has now intensified into violence, which often spills into school grounds,” said the pupil.
A police officer who spoke to Sowetan anonymously said the police were fighting a losing battle.
“We see these kids misbehaving at night. We find them with pocket knives and we can only report them to their parents so that they can discipline them. It’s a waste of time to arrest a child for being in possession of a knife because no prosecutor will take that case to court because it's so petty in their eyes,” said the officer.
Gauteng police spokesperson Lieut-Col Mavela Masondo said police had made several interventions to curb the problem.
“Police are conducting regular visits at schools and youth centres to talk to the youth about issues of crime and the consequences thereof,” said Mavela.
Petronella Letlalo, a community activist, said in 2019 the community and local police had to intervene when pupils from Pholosho and others from the neighbouring Minerva High School clashed. Other children who had dropped out from school also took advantage of the situation and exacerbated these fights.
“We had to get involved because their fights were getting more violent. We teamed up with police and we’d do body searches when pupils come into school. We’d find drugs, knives and pangas in their possession. Drugs were being sold freely at the school by outsiders who hang outside the school’s fence. We stopped doing this work when the situation started to normalise,” said Letlalo.
She said there was a need of another similar intervention.
Some parents conceded to losing their grip on their children. “We are not in charge anymore. Our children are holding us hostage and there is little that we can do. They roam around 12th Avenue until 12 midnight during the week smoking drugs and hubbly bubbly. When we try to reprimand them they swear and threaten us,” said Lisa Nxumalo, a parent.
Chris Mabunda, chairperson of the Alexandra community policing forum, said they had set up programmes for children where they did talks at schools, but these had been disrupted by Covid-19.
“We see the kids wandering at night from 1st Avenue up to 16th. Some parents have given up on their kids. Others don’t care about their children’s whereabouts. They neglect them and drug dealers pounce on them and turn them into peddlers,” said Mabunda.
* Not his real name
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