The murder of a Mount Frere teacher in front of her grade two pupils raised the issue of security at schools, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Wednesday.
”It is intolerable that teachers and learners should face such horrific incidents when they are in school,” spokesperson Patrick Craven said in a statement.
The teacher was shot dead by a balaclava-clad gunman in front of her terrified pupils at Niyona Junior Secondary School on Monday.
Cosatu demanded a full inquiry into how the killer gained access to the classroom and what action would be taken to strengthen security at schools.
The Daily Dispatch reported that the teacher was Fundiswa Sonqishe (32) and that only 12 of her 50 pupils had arrived for school on Tuesday.
Madlomo Ngqayimbana, who cuts bread for the school’s nutrition programme, said that before the shooting she was approached by the gunman who was wearing a balaclava, dark sunglasses and a brown jacket usually worn by prison warders.
Dreadlocks were visible from beneath the balaclava.
The man asked for directions.
”He was very well mannered and first greeted me. I told him where the school principal’s office was and where to look for Sonqishe,” Ngqayimbana said, adding that she had suspected nothing.
A relative said that Sonqishe, the mother of a six-year-old boy, had been divorced last year. Her three-roomed home was burnt down in a suspected arson attack later in the year.
The relative said Sonqishe had been a ”happy woman” when she spoke to her on Friday and described Sonqishe as a ”very sweet person”.
Eastern Cape provincial minister education Johnny Makgato said the shooting emphasised the need to speed up an holistic school-safety programme for the province, the Daily Dispatch said.
South African Democratic Teachers’ Union branch secretary Mziwamadoda Gabela told the South African Press Association that the incident had been shocking for the eight-year-old pupils.
”They were crying … a lot of them urinated … they were in shock and afraid.
”There was a pool of blood in the classroom just next to the chalkboard where the teacher was lying. You can imagine it yourself.”
Captain Zamukulungisa Jozana said the man entered the classroom and shot the teacher three times without saying a word.
She was hit in the head and twice in the neck and died instantly, he said.
The school is in the Mandileni administrative area.
The unidentified man ran away after the shooting and could not be found. — Sapa