Pupil mows down schoolmates in car while rushing to exam

Exams were suspended at Mohlatlego Machaba High School in Ga-Motupa, Tzaneen, in Limpopo yesterday after an 18-year-old Grade 12 pupil knocked eight fellow pupils down in a speeding car, killing one.

School principal Emanuel Motshinye said the suspect was rushing to school to write a Sepedi paper when the incident happened, adding that most of the victims were Grade 8 pupils also going to write an exam starting at noon.

Motshinye said the victims were sitting under the tree, waiting for the school bell to ring.

“The children were sitting under the tree adjacent to the school fence,” he said. “But suddenly, a speeding vehicle came, at once killing one of them.”

He said through the help of other teachers, the victims were transported to Relela Clinic and the Tzaneen Mediclinic. One of them, Koketso Rathlane, who was in Grade 8, was certified dead on arrival at Letaba Hospital, he said.

According to the available information yesterday, the 18-year-old Grade 12 suspect had borrowed a car from a friend to drive to school as he was running late for the exam.

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