Teachers just watch as pupils fight
Unprovoked attack ends with hospital visit
A teenage schoolboy is nursing injuries at home after he was allegedly assaulted by a fellow pupil in front of teachers who apparently did nothing to stop the attack.
The grade 11 boy at Hoërskool Elspark in Germiston said the incident left him traumatised, especially as his white teachers who saw the incident did not come to his rescue.
“On Wednesday I was 10 minutes late. As per procedure, we were given negative slips to sign. While I was standing there about to sign my slip, a group of boys arrived. One of them demanded that I give him my pen,” he said.
He said when he told him that he was still busy with the pen, the boy grabbed it from him, folded his negative slip and threw it in his face.
“I just walked away, but he kicked me from behind and I fell onto the pavement. He kicked and punched me calling me all sorts of names.
“Two white teachers and a white guard just stood there. He was stopped by other pupils and he ran away,” the pupil said.
He then called his aunt who said when she arrived at school the principal did not even speak to her.
“What happened there is very sad. My nephew missed out on classes today because he had to go to hospital. When I told the school that I was going to open a case, they provided me with incorrect details of the suspect, but I went and opened the case anyway. Now the boy is at school as if nothing happened,” the aunt said.
When Sowetan visited the school yesterday to seek comment from the principal, it was said he had gone to a funeral.
Police spokesperson Captain Manare Ramotshela confirmed that a case of common assault had been opened but no one had been arrested as yet.
The department of education had not responded to request for comment by time of going to print.