Dozens of police officers and members of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) converged at a Durban school on Thursday, 48 hours after a former pupil went into the school and threatened teachers and pupils with a gun.
The matter was only reported to police on Wednesday afternoon.
Spokesperson Captain Khephu Ndlovu said the incident took place on Tuesday at Mbelebele High School in Q Section, Umlazi.
”A 17-year-old teenager, a former pupil at the school, went on to the premises carrying a firearm that belonged to his dad,” said Ndlovu.
”The teenager fired a shot into the air and threatened teachers and learners,” he said.
The ex-pupil is the son of a metro police officer.
The boy allegedly stole his father’s gun from a locked safe and then went to the school.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Daniela Veldhuizen confirmed that the teenager is the son of a metro officer.
”A case of theft was opened by the father when the firearm went missing and this was before the incident even took place,” she said.
It is alleged that the officer locked the gun in his safe and went to sleep. The teenager had somehow stolen the key and removed the firearm.
Bheki Fakazi, chairperson of the Sadtu branch in Umlazi, said the boy also reportedly assaulted a parent standing at the entrance gate as well as a teacher in the school.
”This boy just snapped and went crazy… he was screaming, used vulgar language and also made sarcastic remarks at the educators and the principal,” he said.
A teacher at the school said that teachers and pupils locked themselves inside classrooms to avoid the gunman.
”Children hid under desks and many others knelt down to stay away from the windows,” she said, not wanting to be named.
The boy later fled the scene and has not yet been found.
The school opened a criminal case on Wednesday.
Ndlovu said one of the reasons for the school visit was to request that pupils come forward and provide information on who the suspect was.
”We are searching for him and we want to know his identity,” said Ndlovu.
A second reason for the police visit was to speak to pupils about the dangers of carrying weapons to school.
Fakazi, meanwhile, said the union would not stand for teachers’ lives being threatened.
”This sort of behaviour cannot be allowed … the safety of learners and teachers were at the hands of a teenager,” he said.
He said the Department of Education needed to start providing armed security for schools. ”We will not wait until another teacher is killed.”
There was concern that those pupils addicted to drugs may also become violent towards a teacher at some point.
Other members of the union said they could not allow the bizarre shootings that took place in the United States to ”happen in South Africa”.
Thankful
”There have been a number of reports where scholars take their gun and begin shooting randomly at others in the school … How many have died at the hands of a crazed pupil or ex-pupil for no reason,” said a teacher.
”Will the department only act when a shoot-out like that takes place in our country, when dozens of pupils are gunned down,” he said.
Christi Naude, spokesperson for the provincial education department, said she would look into the matter and comment shortly.
Sayed Rajack, chairperson of the province’s parents’ association, said they were thankful that no lives were lost in this incident.
”We believe children are watching too many American shows and are emulating it — and the end result will still be disastrous as in the United States,” he said.
Rajack agreed with Fakazi, saying there was a possibility that South Africa could see a similar shooting spree to the reported cases in the US.
”The Department of Education needs to spearhead projects to ensure safety at schools … Our challenge to the department is that instead of spending lots of money on workshops, high-profile lunches and promotions, maybe they should use that money to hire security guards for schools,” said Rajack.
He said it was also sad to see that many schools did not have procedures in place to evacuate pupils in an emergency situation.
Rajack added that the Department of Safety and Security also needed to play a part in school safety.
”They need to set up a reaction team so that when a person pulls out a firearm in a gun-free zone, they can react quickly to it,” he said.
Rajack said he was also concerned that gun owners were not safekeeping their firearms.
”The father of this teenager should be arrested for negligence. This incident should be a warning to other gun owners to keep their weapons locked in a safe to prevent other incidents like this.” — Sapa