Lavender Hill galvanizes against gangsterism
Clear message that education won’t be allowed to suffer
WARRING Lavender Hill gangsters will not be allowed to stop 4 000 pupils from being educated. This was the clear message that came out of a meeting attended yesterday by the police top brass, parents and teachers of four schools in the area, ward councillors and the provincial education authorities.
The four schools have been closed for over a week, as gangs wielding semiautomatic rifles terrorised the area with shoot-outs near the schools.
For two mornings in a row, teachers protested along Prince George Drive, raising awareness of their plight, with placards that stated: “Help stop the violence in Lavender Hill”, “Down with Plato’s empty promises”, “Restore our community to save our integrity” and “No more shooting in Lavender Hill”.
WCED district chief director Alan Meyer promised the teachers and parents that Premier Helen Zille and Education MEC Debbie Schäfer would meet them on Friday at the southern school district head office to discuss finding solutions to resolve the crisis.
Meyer also assured the gathering that the department’s directors, the MEC and mayco member for safety and security and social services JP Smith were liaising about deployment of the Stabilisation Unit in the area.
With an undertaking from Mitchells Plain/Steenberg Cluster chief, Major-General Greg Goss, that extra police patrols would be provided and that the cluster’s Tactical Response Team (TRT) would be on standby, teachers resolved to return to school to educate the pupils.
Hillwood principal Gavin Alkana said: “It is traumatic for teachers entering the area. When pupils hear shots, they duck and drop to the floor with the teachers.
“Last week from 8am to 2pm we had to keep learners in the hall and played cartoons for them to watch, just to debrief.
“They were not allowed to go to the toilet. We would rather they dirty themselves than be killed,” he said.
Teacher Frieda Court said it was “heartbreaking to see children being robbed of their education. As educator my heart goes out to them. The violence must stop. Children can’t function when they are scared.”
Levana principal Andre Lamprecht said teachers were dedicated and concerned about the schools being closed.