Kempton Park matric students were held up at gunpoint five minutes before the end of a preliminary exam, News24 reported on Thursday.
Oxford Combined School principal Pierre de Lange told News24 that 54 students, supervised by four staff members, were nearing the end of their accounting exam on Wednesday when they were held at gunpoint while the school was robbed.
De Lange said the incident happened about 1.20pm, fortunately ”about five minutes before the pupils were supposed to hand in their exam papers”.
He said the students would not rewrite the exam.
”[The children] came off scot-free, thank the Lord,” he said.
De Lange and his deputy, Ann de Villiers, had been supervising the exam in a hall next to the office block when he heard a noise in the office.
While he was on his way there, he heard someone beating the school secretary, Elizabeth Sithole.
De Lange said he saw a man carrying a pistol, hitting and forcing Sithole under a table.
De Lange, who recently underwent a hip replacement operation, was beaten with his crutch, thrown down and kicked.
Meanwhile, an armed man entered the hall through a side door and told De Villiers and the pupils to lie down.
De Villiers said she did not know where she got the strength from, but she kept on talking to the students and telling them to lie still.
De Lange said the men apparently gained access to the school by overpowering the guard at the gate and forcing him at gunpoint to walk through to the entrance.
News24 reported that a pastoral counsellor had spoken to the matriculants on Wednesday.
The gunmen made off with about R7 000 in cash and two cellphones. — Sapa