By Steve Mabona
GDE Spokesperson
The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has suspended two Basic Education Employment Initiative (BEEI) personnel, an Educator Assistant (EA) and a General Assistant (GA), following an incident that resulted in a Grade 5 boy learner from Dimakatso Primary School in Soshanguve being injured on Wednesday, 22 October 2025.
Preliminary reports indicate that on Wednesday, at around 09:00, the botlearner was requested by the Educator Assistant to assist in moving workbooks from the library to a classroom.
While in the library, it is alleged that an axe accidentally fell and struck the learner, injuring his hand.
The learner was immediately taken for medical attention and is currently admitted at a local hospital.
An internal investigation into the incident is underway, and both implicated BEEI employees have been suspended with immediate effect pending the outcome of the investigation.
In addition, District Social Workers have been assigned to provide psychosocial support to the learner, her family, and the broader school community.
“We are extremely concerned about this unfortunate incident and are closely monitoring the learner’s recovery.
The safety and wellbeing of our learners remain our top priority,” said MEC Chiloane.
Tshwane Talks readers have been able to read stories in this publication for free for over two years now. We still want our readers to access our stories for free, but we are asking those among our readers who can afford it to contribute at least R30 a month to cover some of the costs of publishing this independent, non-aligned online newspaper which gives a voice to all sectors of society irrespective of race, colour, creed, religion, or political affiliation. You may make your contribution by depositing at least R30 a month into Tshwane Talks' bank account. Details are as follows:
Bank Details
Bank: Standard Bank
Account Number: 10225548834
Account Type: Cheque Account