There are growing calls for law enforcement and security to be intensified in schools following a number of fatal shooting incidents in various schools across the country.
At least four people (two pupils, a general assistant and a deputy principal) have died after three shooting incidents barely two weeks since schools reopened, sparking fears that violence will escalate if nothing is done.
In an incident in Etwatwa near Daveyton, on the East Rand, last Monday, three gun-wielding men assaulted the principal of Caiphus Nyoka Secondary School, threatening to kill her if she did not resign.
Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, who will today visit the family of the latest victim, Thembisile Ngendane, who was shot and killed outside Phomolong Secondary School in Tembisa on Friday, said he was “pained and hurt”.
“I don’t even have the courage to say this is the last person to die like this... I think since I became education MEC this is the 100th line of people who I had to comfort,” Lesufi said yesterday.
Lesufi said “those tasked with ensuring that we are protected have to up their game and assist us”.
“It’s disturbing and worrying that people can just wait for a teacher and shoot that teacher. The price of training a teacher is too much,” he said.
He said it was time the police prioritised schools when conducting patrols as schools were a reflection of a violent society.
Ngendane’s family yesterday said they were struggling to come to terms with her death.
Family spokesperson Yolo Ngendane, 60, said: “We don’t know what could have led to this atrocious act. On Friday, when she left for work, she was her jolly self who promised to see us in the afternoon. However, just after 3pm her husband received a call from the school that something had happened.”
He said when they got to the school, Thembisile’s lifeless body was still lying by the gate.
“She has been with the school for five years and I don’t remember her saying she had problems at the school. We are waiting for the police to conduct their investigations,” Yolo said.
Yolo said they were not aware of the rumours on social media saying Thembisile was killed by a pupil who had failed geography.
“The family is not aware of that and we are still waiting to hear from the police,” he said.
Members of Thembisile’s church were seen at her school yesterday. Traces of her blood could also be seen on the ground on which she drew her last breath.
Police spokesperson Lt-Col Mavela Masondo said the police had launched a manhunt for the suspects.
“The motive for the murder cannot be confirmed at this stage. Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects were three and driving in a white vehicle,” he said.
In another incident, a 16-year-old pupil from Daveyton allegedly shot dead a classmate outside school premises on their first day back at school and then turned the gun on himself. Two weeks ago a general assistant was gunned down at Kwa-Phalo Primary School in Meadowlands, Soweto.
Mugwena Maluleke, general secretary of the SA Democratic Teachers Union, said: “We cannot continue holding unending memorial services for our learners and educators without action being taken by our education department and communities to end these senseless killings.
“We urge the police to leave no stone unturned in investigating and securing tight prosecution and conviction.”
Basil Manuel, executive director at the National Professional Teachers Organisation of SA, said there was a lack of psychological guidance for pupils to prepare them to deal with success and failure.
“We need to look at how we are supporting our children and prioritise their mental health,” Manuel said.
Prof Catherine Ward from the University of Cape Town’s department of psychology said the failures of the school system had been exacerbated by the pandemic and may be the reason for growing violence at schools.
“Parents and learners feel that they are being failed by the school system and they take out their anger on officials. People in positions of authority in communities often become the victims of anger,” she said.
Tim Hlongwane, president of the SA Principals Associations in Gauteng, said: “We advise our colleagues not to arrive too early (at school) or leave too late. Those are the times when these criminals attack.”
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