A grade eight pupil is to appear in the Frankfort Magistrate’s Court on Friday for allegedly stabbing a classmate, Free State police said.
Following the incident on Tuesday at 8am, police arrested an 18-year-old pupil at the Reseng Thabo High School in Tweeling, said Captain Hennie Labuschagne.
The victim — 16-year-old Jack Fischer Mokoena from Mafahlaneng near Tweeling — was in the classroom together with his classmates.
”The teacher was not in the classroom at that moment and two other boys were playing maraba-raba [a game].”
Labuschagne said Mokoena was laughing and suddenly one of the boys turned towards him and asked him why he was laughing.
”The boy then stabbed Mokoena with a sharp object under his left arm and he sustained a wound of 2cm.”
Police said Mokoena immediately told his teacher and school principal before being taken to hospital for treatment.
School violence ‘disturbing’
Earlier in the week, it was reported that a 17-year-old pupil was in a serious but stable condition in hospital after he was stabbed at his school in Nyanga.
The boy was in a classroom at Oscar Mpetha High when two youths stormed in at 10.15am and stabbed him in the head and back, Captain Randall Stoffels said.
Two teenagers were arrested.
Stoffels said the two boys, aged 16 and 17, were arrested in Nyanga on Tuesday afternoon after the attack on Hlalanathi August, a grade nine pupil.
”I can confirm that we have two boys in custody on charges of attempted murder and we are taking statements from them,” said Stoffels.
It has been established that one of the boys is a former pupil at Oscar Mpetha High but the motive for the attack is still unknown.
The weapon used in the attack has not yet been found.
Recent incidents of school violence include a Pretoria man who was stabbed in the chest and back by a grade nine pupil at Lyttelton Manor High School.
Motheti Madityana (29) was wounded when he attempted to save his younger brother from being kicked and punched during a school gang fight.
The fight reportedly broke out over money and drugs.
Also in Gauteng, a 13-year-old Edleen Primary School pupil was rushed to hospital after a fellow pupil stabbed him.
The boy was allegedly stabbed while waiting for his parents to pick him up after school, said Gauteng education department spokesperson Panyaza Lesufi.
”It’s disturbing because all along it’s [violence at schools] been taking place in high schools and this time it is primary school pupils.”
At the beginning of October a 19-year-old Forest High pupil was killed when a 14-year-old pupil stabbed him four times.
It was believed that the 14-year-old stabbed Nkosana ”Simon” Mbhele after Mbhele demanded the boy repay a loan.
In the Eastern Cape, a pupil from Lungiswa High School was hospitalised after he was stabbed during a class break.
And in KwaZulu-Natal, 20-year-old Zimisile Sithole was stabbed to death at Mdingi High School by 18-year-old Thabiso Dlamini.
Dlamini was denied bail during a court appearance.
Education Minister Naledi Pandor said South Africa needed to ”respond with vigour to deny violence a permanent place in education”.
”I’m also considering amending the legislation for schools in so far as discipline is concerned in order to make provision for severely disruptive children.”
The provisions included guidance and support as well as allowing schools to surrender troublesome children into the care of their parents. — Sapa