Teachers in the Western Cape are demanding proper protection from the gangsters disrupting their schools, reports Rehana Rossouw
GANGSTERS prowl schools in the Cape Town suburbs of Belhar and Delft, shooting and stabbing pupils, disrupting classes and trashing the premises. At one school, teachers have downed chalk in protest against the authority’s reluctance to provide security.
Almost every school in the two suburbs can relate incidents where gangs have caused havoc and grievous bodily harm, and all teachers there are threatening to join the strike if their safety and the right to teach is not protected.
Excelsior Senior Secondary teachers have been on strike since Monday in an attempt to force the Western Cape Department of Education (WCDE) to provide them with
In June a pupil was stabbed in a classroom while writing his exams when 12 gangsters stormed the school. Two security guards assigned to protect pupils and staff could not apprehend the assailants.
The school’s principal, Graham Jennecker said staff were continually plagued by gangsters who strutted through the school, disrupting classes wilfully. “The final straw came two weeks ago when the security guards told the staff their lives had been threatened by the gangsters and they were no longer prepared to remain on the premises,” Jennecker said.
“Although one of the guards was armed, they said they were not trained to cope with the situation at the school. The teachers said without guards to protect them, they were not prepared to return to their classes and sent the pupils home with a circular explaining their position to the parents.”
Excelsior staff appealed to the WCDE for trained, armed security guards who could deal with the gangsters. Four guards arrived at the school on Monday, but failed to pitch on Tuesday. “We will not teach again until our pupils’ and staff’s lives are secured,” said Jennecker.
The school has been vandalised countless times. It was recently restored by the WCDE, but two weeks ago vandals broke through the ceiling in six places and trashed classrooms.
When a child injured herself by falling into a manhole after thieves stole the covers over the weekend, teachers were relieved that it was the only incident that Monday morning, said Michael Fraser, a teacher at Belhar Senior Secondary.
“In May a pupil was shot at in the grounds while a soccer match was taking place a few metres away. The bullet missed its target, but it could have hit anyone who was standing in the way,” said Fraser.
“For two consecutive days last month we had gangsters armed with guns chasing pupils through the school. We can’t teach in an environment like that, and it is up to the department to take responsibility for our safety and for ensuring the education programme is not
Perseverance Senior Secondary is six years old, but has already reported more than 300 incidents of theft and vandalism. Principal Ralph Talamarkes estimates the WCDE has spent more than R150 000 repairing damage — money he believes would be better spent on hiring trained security guards.
Clements Reed, principal at Doctor Van Der Ross Primary said his school had been “plundered” by vandals. “The department gave us guards and the incidents declined. But then, for no reason we can establish, they removed the guards earlier this year and the plundering
“Our kindergarten classes suffer the most. On Monday mornings the children are greeted with the fact that gangsters used their classrooms as toilets over the weekend. It’s no use putting in locks, they will just be stolen as well.
“My car has been broken into twice on the premises in broad daylight, as well as those of other staff
Franklin Kleinsmith of Symphony Primary said students were robbed after school, cars were broken into on the school premises and classrooms were trashed over
He said he was leaving Cape Town and returning to his rural hometown so that his children could attend school in a place where people respected schools, not trashed
“There’s no respect for schools in the city. Once, the doors were removed from several classrooms overnight and the thieves contacted the school and offered to sell them back at R30 each,” Kleinsmith said.
Teachers at schools in Delft and Belhar said they support Excelsior’s stand to strike until their demands were met. If the WCDE did not not provide security soon, the strike could spread to other schools.
Department spokesman Dr Orland Firmani said Western Cape MEC for Education Martha Olckers would visit schools in the area to acquaint herself with the situation “so that necessary steps could be taken as soon as possible”. He said the department alone could not solve the problem and believed the community should deal with the problem of gangsterism.
The department was, however, giving “serious consideration” to employing a private security firm to protect schools.