A shocked court heard on Monday how a school principal allegedly forced an employee to bury a dog alive.

School cleaner Elliott Mfengu told the Khayelitsha Magistrates’ Court that school head Manono Makhaphela ordered him and a colleague to bury the dog in the schoolyard for defecating.

The dog survived the horror ordeal after being buried up to its neck in a deep pit.

The Luhlazo Secondary High School principal is facing two charges of neglect, torture or cruelty for burying the dog and another one for causing an animal unnecessary harm under the Animal Protection Act.

“It was in the morning of October 20, 2011, and we were called by the principal, telling us to remove a dog that had messed up a classroom,” Mfengu told the court.

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