Alexandra’s schools are caught in the grip of violence, much of it fuelled by gang rivalries and drug turf wars.
Learners are not only consuming drugs, but, according to community leaders, some are being recruited as runners for drug lords, and they fight over territories within school grounds.

Community Policing Forum (CPF) interim chairperson Sibabalo Mgijima said the scale of the problem far exceeded what routine police searches uncovered. “At schools, [some] learners fight over territories to sell drugs. If you ask in these schools, they will tell you that so and so is troublesome. Those are pushers who fight with other gangs that are pushing,” he explained.

Read more: CPF says high school learners fight over drug territories

But the crisis is not limited to gang members. Mgijima revealed that some learners who resist bullies often find themselves dragged into retaliatory fights. “Even the good guys cannot allow themselves to be bullied by someone they know is doing bad things at school.”

He noted how some victims, who feel failed by schools that did not act decisively, end up mobilising their own groups to retaliate. This further entrenches Alexandra’s high schools deeper into cycles of youth-on-youth violence and normalises gang-style confrontations among learners.

In some cases, the violence has turned even more serious. Just last month, a learner at Minerva Secondary School was stabbed three times in the back after intruders stormed the premises. Mgijima confirmed the victim is now too afraid to return to school.

Also read: Suspect nabbed in Alex with drug stash to appear in court on charges

While the shock from the Minerva incident was still fresh in the minds of parents, learners, and teachers, the community was confronted with yet another act of violence. Chris Mabunda, the spokesperson for the CPF, confirmed that another learner was stabbed near East Bank High School on February 20.

The Gauteng Department of Education acknowledged the Minerva incident. Spokesperson Steve Mabona noted that while police investigations were ongoing, the department is implementing a long-term safety plan that will cover all Alexandra schools.

“The plan aims to strengthen security measures through stakeholder collaboration and includes a full security and risk audit of the affected school, school governing body engagements on infrastructure upgrades, specifically the perimeter fence, access control systems and surveillance where required,” Mabona said.

He added that the plan would also review and enhance the School Safety Policy and Crisis Management Plan, while enforcing stricter access control measures. Visitors will be required to have appointments and produce identification.

Beyond infrastructure, Mabona said violence prevention and conflict resolution programmes would be rolled out. “We strongly condemn any acts of misconduct by anyone which seek to undermine the dignity of our learning institutions.”

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