Parents and learners at Florida Park High School in Roodepoort have been enraged by the alleged conduct of one the school’s educators.

The teacher is accused of strangling one Grade 10 learner and breaking the cellphone of another on Thursday, April 21.

Parents of the alleged victims have demanded action from the school, but following over a week of silence, have since opened a case against the educator at Florida Police Station.

The alleged altercation was sparked when reference was made to a nickname that some learners had had for the educator since he had taught them in Grade 8. The alleged assault victim stated that the term, ‘Auntie Malaka’ is said to be the educator’s personal style.

The use of the term enraged the educator and a confrontation ensued, resulting in Mr Malaka allegedly grabbing the learner by the neck, leaving him with some light bruising.

Witnessed by more than ten other learners, it is alleged that a learner who attempted to record the incident, had his cellphone broken by the teacher.

A video of the aftermath of the altercation shows the educator approaching one of the boys before the phone drops to the holder’s side.

Following the altercation, the boys were suspended for verbally abusing an educator, but that was rescinded the following day after complaints from the parents.

Irate parents approached the school, demanding the educator be disciplined but have subsequently been told that the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) would address the incident.

As of May 4, parents had still not had any suitable feedback from the school or the department. In a move that further infuriated the parents, the two boys involved were interrogated by a department official without their parents’ knowledge or consent.

The boys are said to have appeared together after being summoned by a Florida Park High staff member, but no school staff were present in the interview.

Relaying what she was told by her son, one of the mothers says that the boys were interviewed by a GDE official for roughly ten minutes.

She says that they were told that should their statements not correlate, any case against their alleged attacker would be dropped and further investigation would take three months.

Additionally, the mother claims that one boy was made to alter his initial statement of events, done so without his mother’s advice or direction.

The GDE was approached for comment on April 29 and as of publication, an indication from the GDE that they would revert, had yet to be honoured.

Florida Park High School has also been given the opportunity to defend the actions of their staff yet has chosen not to do so yet.