Joshua Amupadhi
SECONDARY schools in KwaThema, east of Johannesburg, came to a standstill this week when a small group of pupils stopped 10 000 others from writing exams.
Pupils were later bused to secret venues to complete their examinations. The police and army presence at schools, there since August, has also been beefed up.
The area’s director of education, Margaret Webber, said the actions of “hooligans” who disrupted the exams followed the arrest last week of at least six pupils suspected of being involved in murders which have claimed the lives of more than 14 pupils since June.
The killings began in 1993 between two students’ groups, the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) and the Pan- Africanist Students’ Organisation (Paso). Police were unable to trace the killers because witnesses were intimidated into silence.
Early last month the Mail & Guardian reported on “phantom gangs” which had wreaked havoc at KwaThema’s seven high schools, attacking pupils and chasing them away from classes. This week, however, police superintendent Rudie van Olst of the Springs Murder and Robbery Unit said they had begun to re-open cases from 1993 and had made a major breakthrough with the arrest of the six pupils on charges of murder, attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and intimidation.
Van Olst said: “We re-opened cases which were closed years ago due to intimidation. But we have now started tracing witnesses and they have shown their willingness to testify. This is because of the new political order.”
The police action, however, was opposed by some pupils, who moved from school to school telling others to forget about exams.
A teacher at Lefa-Ifa Secondary School said: “They came in saying, `Pens down, stand up. Take your time-tables, but leave your [answer] scripts and question papers.’ They told us teachers not to resist or we would be `shaken’ with the wires they had been carrying.”
Webber said the conflict had started politically but become criminal, and Cosas and Paso were unable to control these pupils.