Sibusiso Sithole from Meadowlands Zone Seven, who was admitted to Baragwanath Hospital two weeks ago in a critical condition after he was allegedly stabbed by a fellow pupil at Mokgome Secondary School, is out of danger.
According to Sithole’s grandmother, Matilda Kubheka, the boy’s condition has improved.
“He has been moved from ICU and the doctors said he will survive. They’re keeping him in the hospital because doctors are still draining the air trapped in the lungs and blood caused by internal bleeding,” said Kubheka who was concerned that the wound was too close to the heart and could have resulted in his grandson dying.
Khubeka and Sithole’s aunt raised concerns about the safety of pupils on school property.
“Our children are not safe when they’re at school. This is not the first time a pupil was physically hurt at Mokgome.
“The security guards should have helped him to the clinic or call the staff for help. I don’t blame the teachers because they were not informed on time about the incident.” said Kubheka.
“I can’t comment about what happened because I was off sick. The deputy principal attended to the situation.
“The security guards are trained patrollers allocated to us by the police station. This case is exposing loop holes in the quality of training.” said school prinicpal, Caiphus Mphahlele.
“It saddens me that something like this happened. We can not say much about the incident because we are not sure if the department will agree.” He added.
Phumla Sekhonyane, spokesperson for the Gauteng Department of Education said the alleged perpetrator has been suspended and the school is taking disciplinary action against him.
“The department strongly condemns the alleged conduct of the learner as we believe that effective teaching and learning can never take place in an environment marred by violence and ill-discipline.
“We will closely monitor the school to ensure that correct procedures are followed in dealing with this particular matter,” said Sekhonyane.
Sekhonyane added that the department is taking precautionary measures such as developing a programme to fight gangsterism in schools, identified to have been afflicted by such a scourge and an Anti-Bullying policy exemplar for schools to develop their own customised one for implementation in their schools to prevent violence in schools.
She said that five trained and accredited Scholar Patrollers have been deployed by the department to provide safety support to the school.
