Gun-toting pupils set Bhisho alarm bells ringing
GUN-PACKING schoolchildren have become such an alarming problem in Eastern Cape schools that the education department has launched an adopt-a-police-station programme to try and create a safer atmosphere in schools.
The dangerous phenomenon of youths with guns in the schoolyard was highlighted on Tuesday when two schoolgoing minors appeared in the Port St Johns (PSJ) Magistrate’s Court charged with possessing an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
This is the second incident of guns in the hands of schoolgoing youths that has emerged in the PSJ Magistrate’s Court.
In January a 21-year-old Grade 11 pupil was charged with bringing a homemade gun to school. Details of the progress of the case were not available yesterday.
The biggest teacher union in the country, the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), has criticised the government for not ensuring the safety of teachers.
On Tuesday the pupils, aged 15 and 16, were released into the custody of their parents, said PSJ police spokeswoman Captain Nozuko Handile.
They are due back in court on May 4.
She declined to name their school but confirmed they had been arrested on the school grounds on Monday morning.
“A teacher noticed something in the 15-year-old pupil’s pocket and when the teacher requested that the item be handed over, he refused,” she said.
“The pupil was taken to the principal, where a 9mm magazine with seven rounds was handed over.”
On further investigation, the 16year-old was arrested and accompanied the police to his home where a 9mm pistol was seized.
The weapon has been taken for ballistic tests in case it is linked it to any other crimes.
Handile revealed that further investigations would include tracing the legal owner of the weapon and discovering how the pupils got hold of it.
Reacting to the incident, provincial education spokesman Mali Mtima said the department had initiated a “search and seize” programme in which schools had been adopted by the police stations nearest to them.
Sadtu’s provincial secretary in the Eastern Cape, Chris Mdingi called for the department to employ security guards in each school, saying this would ensure that both pupils and staff were protected.