KABOKWENI – The Department of Education is investigating an assault by police officers on learners of Sabane Secondary School.
The department is also still investigating the circumstances around a bogus spring school in White River, that saw learners live in squalor while preparing for the matric exams which started yesterday.
Five boys and four girls in grades 10, 11 and 12 in Sabane Secondary, alleged that they were beaten up by police officers in their principal, Lucy Green’s office three weeks ago.
They claim that Green instructed the officers to beat them.
Two pupils were admitted to Themba Hospital due to their injuries.
Sakhele Sibande (18), a matric learner at the school told Lowvelder that moments before the assault he and his friends were told that they had to come to school with their parents.
“The next thing I knew we were being called into the principal’s office and there were police officers there,” he said. “She told them to hit me the hardest because I was the ring leader.”
The teenagers were allegedly handcuffed to burglar bars, after which the police proceeded to allegedly slap, whip and kick them. They were also made to sing o di batla kae (where do you want it) and they had to reply mo mokokotlong (on my back), while being beaten, they claimed.
“I don’t know why we were beaten like that, they did not give us a reason,” said Sakhele. Some of the parents approached Green, who allegedly stood by her decision of calling in the police. According to Fikile Nkosi, whose 18-year-old sister was one of the victims, Green told them that the learners “would not listen”.
Nkosi reported the matter to the circuit manager’s office, who called a meeting between the parents, school governing body and Green. “She was told to apologise and we were asked to forgive her because it is her first offence,” said Nkosi.
Green was asked to submit a report about the incident to the circuit office. “We also want to know what happened, but I have been told that they are still waiting for her report,” said a frustrated Nkosi.
Spokesman Jasper Zwane said last week that the department was not initially aware of the incident, but that it has since started investigating. “No one has the right to assault anyone,” he said.
According to Zwane, the department will send counsellors to the school for the affected learners.
The matric camp is also under investigation by authorities after pupils spoke up about their living conditions. The pupils from Lebombo Technical College in Naas were brought to White River under the pretence of being taken to Mbombela ahead of rewriting their matric exams.
The learners, who paid up to R3 000 to attend, told the newspaper that they were promised three meals a day, but were left starving and having to ask for food from the local businesses in the building where they were being housed. They apparently also slept in the study quarters and had one bathroom for 70 of them.
Zwane said a report into the camp has not yet been finalised. The newspaper’s repeated attempts to reach both schools’ principals for comment were unsuccessful.
