Gauteng Education MEC wants police stationed outside schools after parent shot dead in Soweto

Gauteng Education MEC, Matome Chiloane has called for heightened community safety after a parent was killed at his child’s school in Soweto.

The man had tried to stop an attempted hijacking outside Faranani Primary School in Protea Glen on Tuesday, when he was shot and certified dead on the scene.

The incident, which saw a group of unknown suspects trying to hijack a transport vehicle that was fetching pupils, took place just outside the school’s main gate, in full view of children and staff.

The South African Police Service (Saps) is investigating the incident.

Counselling

Visiting the school on Wednesday, Chiloane expressed his condolences to the victim’s family and indicated that counselling would be provided all those who witnessed the incident unfold.

“I can imagine the pain and the trauma of [the victim’s] child to experience or to know that their father had come to pick them up and had passed on so we will go to the family and support [them].

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“We have already dispatched the psychosocial unit to the school to assist all the learners and also we have dispatched the wellness [team] to assist the educators because we know the educators might not be feeling safe at the current moment,” he said.

Last week, new Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi announced that the province would increase its budget and recruit 6 000 people to assist police in law enforcement.

Chiloane welcomed the announcement and indicated he would request that police officers be placed outside schools since patrollers were not armed.

“In that 6 000, we will be requesting that schools should be guarded by police officials as part of a programme to apprehend [any suspects].

“We want the officers to be stationed at schools in the morning and in the afternoon,” he continued.

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“We have picked up that this area has a problem [as] there’s no police station nearby [so] that is a matter that we will take to the relevant authorities.

“What we will also be requesting is that mobile police stations be closer to schools as and when they are deployed,” the MEC said.

‘Still on the run’

The MEC further assured that the suspects behind the incident would be arrest.

“As of now they are still on the run, but they will be caught very soon. That one I can ascertain,” he said.

“What we have here is criminals being emboldened. And that requires us as a community to begin and fight back.

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“This is a sign that lawlessness has crept in. The fact that they could come to a school and do what they’ve done is a demonstration that they’re heartless. We want to collaborate with community safety so that it deploys police to all our schools,” Chiloane added.

Meanwhile, ward councillor Phelelani Sidani expressed concern over crime in Protea Glen, saying it required urgent attention.

“On Saturday morning, there was a dead body that we found [and] unfortunately this morning, before I came here, there was a dead body that we picked at one of the parks in extension 26. What we are pleading for is that at least we get a police station,” Sidani said.