2 Grade 10 Pupils Dead in Murder Suicide at Gauteng School on the 1st Day of School
- The first day of school ended tragically for two students from Lesiba Secondary School in Johannesburg
- A fight between two pupils during school hours led to a horrific murder-suicide incident outside the school grounds
- South Africans have raised issues about security on school premises and have called on officials to beef up security measures
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JOHANNESBURG - A tragic shooting on the first day of the 2022 school year led to the lives of two people being lost.
A grade 10 pupil, aged 16, shot and killed a fellow classmate on Wednesday, 12 January. The incident took place at Lesiba Secondary School in Daveyton in Johannesburg.
After killing his classmate, the shooter then turned the gun on himself, reports News24. It is believed there was tension between the pupils during school hours which may the reason for the murder and suicide.
Source: Getty Images
The escalation of the fight allegedly led to the one pupil shooting the classmate in the head outside the school grounds.
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The MEC of Education in Gauteng Panyanza Lesufi has sent heartfelt condolences to the family of the two pupils. Lesufi also cautioned learners about getting involved in violent behaviour.
Education department spokesperson in Gauteng Steve Mabona says psycho-social support will be offered to pupils at the school who have been affected by the murder-suicide incident, according to a TimesLIVE report.
South Africans call for improved security measures at schools
On social media, some South Africans believe that schools should be investing in better security measures at school premises. Some have suggested that pupils should be searched before entering school grounds or metal detectors should be installed.
Here are some comments:
@Judaeda3 said:
"Smoking nyaope in the schoolyard shows no security guards at the entrance. SGB must look at this matter seriously."
@katli_mathule said:
"Then @Lesufi says that Gauteng Education doesn’t have money to provide security at schools. But there was R451m for sanitizing empty classrooms. Tell Lesufi to unblock me ..."
@TQ_Soulistic02 said:
"Where are security personnel being employed by the school, are they not searching pupils when entering school premises?"
@Eugene_daystar said:
"Public school security is helpless, believe me. They're just in charge of the entrances. Kids aren't scared of them since most of them are from around the hood and have no training, even they can get killed by school kids if not careful."
@BrandonOctober said:
"@CyrilRamaphosa Mr President, we are failing our youth. This is not normal behaviour. Our youth are stressed, depressed & disillusioned. A murder & suicide are just two of many signs of an ill society. You need to fix it, while you still can."
Festive season school vandalism: 39 in Northern Cape and 57 in Gauteng
In other news, Briefly News previously reported that the South African government have announced that over the festive season school holiday over 100 schools were vandalised nationwide. 39 of these cases took place in the Northern Cape, and 57 were in Gauteng.
The Northern Cape's Education Department is investigating the extent of the vandalism at its province's schools. Geoffrey Van Der Merwe, a spokesperson for the provincial department, declared the department's condemnation of the vandalism and called for the perpetrators to be arrested.
"We appeal to all school communities to work with the SAPS to ensure that these perpetrators are arrested and face the full might of the law. Our infrastructure unit is still conducting an assessment of the damage caused to do the reparation work," Van der Merwe said.
Source: Briefly News
