By OBAKENG MAJE
The Congress of South African Students (COSAS) calls on the North West Department of Education to put school safety as an apex priority.
This comes after a video of the chaos that erupted in Kruger street in Wolmaranstad, where a learner allegedly wearing Maquassi Hills Secondary School was seen carrying a gun and chasing another learner from Gatelapele Secondary School was shared on social media platforms.
It is alleged that the incident took place at the gates of the department’s sub-district offices in Wolmaranstad.
According to the North West Department of Education spokesperson, Elias Malindi: “At around 2:30pm, there was some chaos outside the sub-district office gate. The two male learners were fighting over township issues.
“The learner from Maquassi Hills Secondary School was armed with his father’s gun. The police were called during the rowdy running.”
He said, the father allegedly did not give the learner from Maquassi Hills the gun, but instead jumped out of his moving vehicle to retrieve the gun from his son.
The North West police spokesperson, Brig Sabata Mokgwabone said they noted with concern the video doing the rounds on social media platforms following a confrontation that ensued among learners outside a school in Wolmaranstad.
“It is alleged that during the confrontation, one of the learners took a firearm from his father and chased fellow pupils. According to information, no shot was fired during the incident.
“As a result, two cases of assault with intent to do Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH) and a common assault were opened between 8 and 9 September 2022,” he said.
Mokgwabone said, consequently, the police confiscated the firearm, which the child had in his possession while chasing fellow learners. He said, furthermore, that a case has been opened for contravention of Section 120 (10) (a) of the Firearms Control Act, 2000 (Act No. 60 of 2000).
“The motive of the incident is yet to be determined and no arrests have been effected at this stage. Investigations into the reported cases are underway,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mokoena said teaching and learning should be the safest place for all learners, educators, and relevant stakeholders in schools. He said the department should ensure that there is no place for violence and other criminal acts in schools as it poses a serious barrier to learning.
“We urge the department to ensure that there is security in our schools. We cannot continue to experience criminal activities in schools,” he said.
The Guardian 