Pupils beaten up by principal

MATSULU – What was meant to be an enjoyable time since it was their last day of school camp, turned out to be a nightmare for the pupils of Masitakhe Secondary School when an alleged drunk off-duty police officer and the principal beat them up on the premises.

The camp, which started last Sunday and ended on Friday, was a way of giving the grade 12 learners extra lessons during the holidays.

According to a source who wants to remain anonymous, they asked the school governing body (SGB) and the security guards, since it was their last day of the camp, to attend their classes a bit later and spend time catching up.

“We were sitting outside and some of us were playing football, when the women arrived who cook for us. They told us to go back to our classes and we told them we had been given permission by the SGB to be outside,” Thando Nkosi said.

The pupils said they suspect that the women had called their principal, who arrived within an hour. He showed up with his police friend who is a CID and they allegedly smelled of liquor. They were carrying sticks and a sjambok, and ordered some of them to get into one classroom.

“The policeman was shouting at us at the top of his voice, calling us names and threatened to beat us up and even go to the extent of beating up our useless parents,” he said.

“When they started beating up the others, I managed to escape and had to jump the fence because the gate was locked,” he said.

Most victims of this incident were boys and only a few girls were affected.

According to Thando who was badly beaten on his buttocks by the policeman using a sjambok. They went to the girls’ room and pulled aside some of the girls, “I thought if I suggested that they beat me up instead of the girls, they would stop, but I was wrong,” he said.

He added that after this incident they no longer feel safe because they thought that they were safe in the hands of their principal, but now he has shown them that he is not a person to be trusted.

“I am still in pain although the swelling has eased. I went to the clinic and was treated for the swelling. I am disappointed and the scars will always remind me of this punishment,” he said.

What angers the learners most is that the policeman said even if they met him on the streets, they couldn’t do anything because they were dogs and deserved to be beaten up. “He was calling us names and by that he was disrespecting us,” he said.

The learners said what amazed them was the fact that the people who were supposed to be protecting them, were the ones who had abused their powers and assaulted them. They opened a case on Saturday, the day after the incident, at the Matsulu Police Station. When contacted to comment, the spokesman for education, Mr Jasper Zwane said they were waiting for a full report from the district offices and would only then be able to comment on the matter.

According to the SAPS spokesman for the province, Col Leonard Hlathi, a docket had been opened, but it had not yet been registered and for that matter he could not comment any further.