DUMISANE LUBISI & ZENZELE KUHLASE, Burgersfort | Wednesday
THE Mpumalanga education department is yet to decide whether to intervene at EJ Singwane High School at Msogwaba near Nelspruit where pupils torched a police car and opened fire on police officers on Friday.
The pupils were trying to prevent a classmate from being arrested for brandishing a weapon at the school.
Eleven pupils were detained, of which seven were charged with three cases of malicious damage to property.
They were remanded in custody until June 7 in the KaBokweni Magistrate’s Court.
Penuel Ndimande Lukhele (18), who brought the gun to school, was jailed for two years in the KaNyamazane Magistrate’s Court shortly after his arrest on Friday for the illegal possession of a firearm.
Meanwhile, Northern Province high school children who rioted on Friday refused to sit for their mid-year exams which started on Tuesday, said provincial education department spokesman Freddy Greaver.
Pupils at Phutinare High School in Maandagshoek near Burgersfort rioted on Friday after accusing their principal of using school funds for personal gain.
At a meeting on Monday, it was agreed that classes return to normal. “But then the pupils refused to sit for their exams today,” said Greaver. He said it was then agreed that the exams start on Wednesday.
If pupils continued to refuse to sit for the exams, their parents would have to take responsibility for re-registering them to write the papers and ensuring they sat for them.
The pupils held the principal hostage in his office and smashed school windows on Friday.
They wanted to be refunded their school fees and an undertaking that the principal would no longer manage the school’s finances.
When police arrived at the scene, pupils stoned them and smashed the police bakkie’s windscreen.
Sixteen pupils were detained until Sunday, when 15 were released.
One pupil, Tladi Kenneth Seloane (19), was charged with malicious damage to State property and public violence.
He was not asked to plead in the Mecklenburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday and was released on a warning until his case resumed on June 18.
Central police spokesman Inspector Matjokotja Masenya said police expected to make more arrests and were conducting patrols.
Greaver said the department was investigating the allegations against the principal. – African Eye News Service