Johannesburg police on Wednesday promised pupils at a Booysens high school they would monitor their safety following the fatal stabbing of a pupil on the premises.
“I will be here all the time with the principal,” said newly appointed Booysens Commissioner Rex Qabanisa Mochabi, speaking to pupils at Forest Hill High.
Last week a 19-year-old boy, Simon Mbhele, was stabbed to death by a 14-year-old, apparently when the victim asked his attacker to repay a loan.
The suspect has appeared in court, and his case was postponed to December 8.
Mochabi said the stabbing was his first case since arriving at the Booysens police station. “It was my first incident and when I came to the scene I was touched.”
Police will be deployed at the school to talk to pupils about children misbehaving or selling drugs.
The School Safety Campaign, launched by the South African Police Service, has already been to seven other schools.
Mochabi told pupils it was up to them to ensure that the school was a safe environment. “The police will be here to help you, and if they can’t, I am here,” he said.
The commissioner told the pupils they were fortunate to attend a suburban school — unlike the rural school he had been to.
Mochabi spoke about the fact that some of the pupils had businesses in the school. It is alleged that Mbhele was a loan shark at the school.
Some of the scholars sported dyed hair, and during the address by the commissioner at an assembly on Wednesday, the principal had to tell them to keep quiet.
Mbhele’s parents and the mother of the 14-year-old suspect were not present.
After the address by the commissioner, some of the pupils were taken to a hall where they were shown a Carte Blanche television programme about bullies at school. They were addressed by various speakers from the safety campaign and were told about drugs and their after-effects.
Tyrese Kamau, a grade 11 pupil at Forest High, said the police seemed more approachable now.
“When they come to our school they give us a basis to trust them,” he said.
“It’s not only the teachers that we as students can go to when we have a problem, but now also the police,” Kamau said.
Kamau has been scholar at Forest Hill for three years, and comes from Ethiopia. He said his teachers were “trusting and enabling”.
Charmaine Hatta, a prefect, said Forest High was a good school and the education was of a high standard.
The principal, Mark Petersen, said Mbhele’s killing was an isolated case.
Teachers and the school governing body would continue dealing with children who were misbehaving through disciplinary action, Petersen said.
Stable condition
Meanwhile, it was reported an Eastern Cape schoolboy is in a stable condition in the Livingstone Hospital in Port Elizabeth after being stabbed by a schoolmate — the second school stabbing this month.
His 17-year-old assailant appeared on a charge of attempted murder in Humansdorp Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, said Inspector Marianette Olivier.
The case was postponed until November 20 and the youth released into the custody of his parents, she said.
The court ordered him placed under house arrest, in terms of which he may leave home only to attend school, Olivier said.
The teenager allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed 19-year-old Baxolisi Sijako in the chest during an argument at 12.55pm on Tuesday.
At the time, the two grade 11 pupils were playing on the grounds of the Lungiswa High School in KwaNomzamo during break.
Olivier said police went to the 17-year-old’s home just after the incident, but he was not there.
His parents handed him over to the police at the Humansdorp Police Station an hour-and-a-half later.