DAANTJIE – Bullying and the possession of dangerous weapons is still a problem experienced by teachers in township schools.
This became more evident after an incident occurred at Bonginhlanhla Secondary School in which a 19-year-old grade 10 learner was allegedly stabbed and killed by another pupil.
This had left many children severely traumatised.
Mpumalanga News learnt that the learners had been involved in an argument, and the 16-year-old did not hesitate to draw his knife and stab the deceased in the neck.
The victim had been identified as Nkosinathi Mpila who had succumbed to his injuries at Themba Hospital.
Information obtained by this publication stated that the deceased allegedly used to bully the minor.
On the day of the incident, the minor told his friends that he was sick and tired of being victimised and had decided to carry a knife to use against anyone who dared provoke him.
It has come to the attention of this paper that there are faction fights among pupils of this particular school. The fights are interpreted as ”wangesheya wangesheya”.
The spokesperson for the local police, Lt Jabu Ndubane confirmed the incident.
”It’s true that we have arrested a learner for stabbing another who later died in hospital. He managed to state that they were fighting, but did not state the motives.
The learner who killed the deceased is currently in custody as he is expected to make his second appearance in the KaNyamazane Magistrate’s Court next Wednesday for murder,” said Ndubane.
Meanwhile the Department of Education strongly condemned the incident as the provincial spokesperson Mr Jasper Zwane said,
“As a department we condemn the fact that learners carry dangerous weapons in schools and went to an extent of killing a person. We would also like to convey our condolences to friends and families of the deceased for losing their loved one and we are going to send officials to the school to provide counselling to the learners who witnessed the incident.”
This publication also learnt that it was not the first time that learners witnessed a stabbing incident.
Earlier this year KaMhola Secondary School was in the headlines of social media after video footage was leaked, of a learner stabbing another pupil with a bottle.
