The mother of a teenage girl who attends Belverton Secondary School in KZN is calling for justice after her daughter was viciously attacked, allegedly by a group of learners, after school on Monday.

Speaking to North Coast Rising Sun, Shameela Hussain Zaman said her daughter was assaulted by learners, who are known to her and attend the same school.

The attack occurred shortly after the school day ended. According to Zaman, her daughter was confronted by a group of learners who began hurling insults before physically assaulting her.

During the altercation, a Grade 12 learner – allegedly part of the group – reportedly picked up the victim and threw her down a flight of stairs near her property, before fleeing the scene with the others. Zaman immediately contacted Reaction Unit South Africa to report the incident.

Her daughter was later treated for her injuries at Tongaat Clinic. She sustained serious injuries to her back and head and continues to suffer from persistent back pain and headaches. Zaman said that before the assault, the group had begun arguing with her daughter.

“They wanted protection fees because apparently, they rule the school. They also did not want her to talk with a boy she had dated and broke up with two years ago, apparently, it’s a ‘girl code’. The victim’s refusal to the alleged perpetrator’s demands is what led to the assault,” the mother claimed.

According to Zaman, this was not the first time her daughter had been targeted. She claims that the group of alleged attackers had a long-standing history of jealousy and bullying, rooted in envy over her daughter’s appearance.

When asked if the learners had another motive, Zaman said that when her daughter questioned why she was being targeted, they allegedly stated that there was no reason for the bullying and that they did it for fun.

Zaman also shared that her daughter had been subjected to ongoing cyberbullying, including social media posts by fellow learners.

She provided screenshots showing one such post that included a photo of her daughter captioned with a derogatory slur, ‘ho’, a colloquial term used to describe a prostitute.

Zaman further alleges that before the assault, she had received information that three pupils – two females and one male – were planning to attack her daughter after school, as per her daughter, who informed Zaman that a girl in her school told her to ‘get ready, we are going to beat you up after school’.

She claims to have informed the school of the threat, and was told that the pupils were warned. Despite this, the attack still occurred. “My daughter has been living in fear. She doesn’t feel safe anymore,” the mother added. Zaman said that she has opened a criminal case against her daughter’s attackers.

She said bullying is a crime, and cases like this need to gain awareness, as young girls are becoming more prominent in cases of bullying in high schools.

Tongaat SAPS was contacted for a statement, and provided feedback stating: “A case of assault was opened by the complainant. The case is currently under investigation. No arrests have been made.”

Attempts to contact the school for a comment proved futile at the time of publishing.

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