Shock over pupil stabbing at Eldorado Park school

Gauteng Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Community Safety is shocked after a pupil was stabbed at Eldorado Park Secondary School.

Community Safety together with the Education Committee were at the school on an unannounced oversight visit on Wednesday when the incident happened.

The unannounced oversight visit was part of the committees’ Focus Intervention Study (FIS) on assessing the effectiveness of school safety interventions in fighting violence and crime in schools.

Gauteng Legislature spokesperson Thebe Khumalo said the pupil was stabbed by an intruder at the school. The intruder fled the scene after the incident.

“The pupil was promptly stabilised and rushed to a nearby health care facility. The incident highlights the scourge of violence and criminality that exists in some Gauteng schools, which prompted the FIS that the two committees are engaged in.”

ALSO READ: Gangsterism: Eldorado Park community leader gunned down

Weapons

The committees had to adjourn their meeting with the Principal and School Management Team to allow them to speedily attend to the incident,” said Khumalo.

He said during the visit, committee members were shown multiple knives that were confiscated from the pupils.

“They also learned about a pupil who brought a gun to school the previous day. Shocking incidents like these cannot be left unattended as they are not isolated cases and need urgent interventions by government and civil society.

“It is for this reason that the committees will table their findings and recommendations during a House Sitting and compel the Department of Education to act. The committees will on 31 August convene a Stakeholder Engagement Session to bring various experts together to develop concrete recommendations that will form part of the consolidated report to be tabled in the House,” he said.

Earlier this year, prominent Eldorado Park anti-gang activist Ayob Mungalee, known as the Ultimate Warrior, was murdered in a suspected hit in  the suburb.

ALSO READ: Police to wear body cams after N1 VIP Protection assault