More chaos reigned supreme at the trouble-torn Soshanguve South Secondary School in Tshwane on Wednesday.
The protest was led by Soil of Africa and were joined by UAT, ANC, EFF and community members.
The latest chaos, which saw angry parents, members of political parties and civic movements protesting at the gate of the school and calling for the principal to step aside pending investigations, was sparked by unsavoury events that happened at the school this past Monday.
Late-coming among learners of the school is rife, and it is alleged that on Monday the principal of the school roped in several members of the community to come and literally lash out at the habitual late-comers with sjamboks.
Several learners sustained bruises on their thighs and buttocks as a resulting of the lashing session they were subjected to by the over-robust members of the community, who they described as thugs.
On Wednesday several learners at the school left their classes and rushed to the gate of the school where they demanded to be let out so that they could join their toyi-toying parents outside the school yard.
Rise Mzansi’s Matome Alpha Serabana told Tshwane Talks that his organisation has been disturbed by the video footage which showed ” thuggish community strongmen assaulting learners for being late for their classes at the school and after making enquiries at the school it emerged that the chairperson of the Student Governing Body (SGB) together with the school’s principal are implicated in the matter, so we resolved that both of them must leave the school premises with immediate effect.”
Speaking to Tshwane Talks early in the morning on Wednesday at the gates of the Soshanguve South Secondary School, Soil of Africa Chairperson Bongani Ramontja said the following:
“As Soil of Africa we are calling for the suspension of the school principal with immediate effect because it is alleged that he is the one who invited boisterous members of the community to come and assault learners; thus contravening Section 10 of the South African Schools Act, which abhors the use of corporal punishment at the country’s schools.”
Ramontja elaborated that “the principal is the custodian of the school and when the kids are inside the school premises he must protect them, so we are saying the Department of Basic Education must be held accountable as it must have a mechanism that will advise educators on how best to discipline children.”
According to learners at the school, this was not the first time that the school’s principal had enlisted the services of “local thugs” to come and “discipline” wayward learners at the Soshanguve South Secondary School.
“Around March this year thugs were called in to come and deal with learners who smoke cigarettes and Nyaope, play dice and bunk school regularly and these learners also sell Nyaope right inside the school’s premises,” said a learner who can’t be named to protect her as she is a minor.
In response to the chaos at the Soshanguve South Secondary School, the Department of Education released the following lame statement:
“According to our reports community members allegedly overpowered scholar patrollers and forced their way into the school premises wherein they began beating up girl and girl learners and nearly assaulted Department of Basic Education officials who had tried to intervene in the fracas.”
The lame statement further reads as follows:
“The Gauteng Department of Education strongly condemns this unacceptable act of violence and urges community members to refrain from taking the law into their own hands.”
As a parting shot after a meeting that was held at the school regarding the prevailing crisis, Soil of Africa’s Ramontja said the following:
“Teachers need to differentiate between disciplinary measures and retribution, and we are of the opinion that a bout camp for naughty learners must be organised and there the learners must be taught the culture of morality, discipline and respect because if we leave them (the learners) like this, then we are going to have a lawless country; these children are the future of the country and if we leave them like this they are going to burn this country to ashes,” lamented Ramontja.
He revealed that during the crisis meeting it was agreed that the school’s principal and chairperson of the SGB must be suspended until investigations into the matter have been completed.
Ramontja appealed to the local CPF structures and Gauteng Crime Wardens (AmaPanyaza) to be visible “so that not every Tom, Dick and Harry may be able to go into the premises of the school and do as they wish because this puts our children under unsafe conditions,” he fumed.
Meanwhile UAT Tshwane District Secretary Lesley Sebotsane said what happened at the school is horrible and totally out of order and that his organisation wants to get to the root cause of the problem because when children are at school they are supposed to be at a place of safety.
“Once physical abuse happens inside the school premises then it means something is wrong either on the side of the governing structures of the school or the learners,” said Sebotsane.
“We also have a third force here in the form of the people who beat up the learners so we want to know as to who between the three sides involved in this matter is in the wrong,” he said.
“Before one can call for the principal to be fired one must first get the full story regarding the crisis at this school,” said Sebotsane.
He said it is illegal, out of order and unacceptable that outsiders came into the school premises and if the principal is in the wrong then he must be fired because the position of the principal requires somebody who can take charge of the institution.
UAT’s Tomorrow’s Future member Tshepiso Phahle, who is a former learner of the school said the following:
“This is a 50/50 situation because on the one hand one finds teachers who abuse learners because they are slow learners while on the other hand one finds learners who think they can physically challenge teachers.”
“There used to be fights between teachers and learners at school in the past when I was a learner here but the situation was not to this great extent, so the fact that outsiders were brought into the school premises means learners are not safe at all at schools,” explained Phahle.
“We have different backgrounds and the principal should have first verified the reasons for individual learners to be late and not just punish them all together because there are those who get late due to smoking Nyaope before coming to school while others have to take care of their siblings before coming to school because they are from child-headed households,” said Phahle