KZN pupil sits at home after brutal attack

Grade 12 pupil Scelo Mkhwanazi injured in a brutal attack in his rural village in November 2017, is sitting at home not able to attend university, despite a bachelor’s matric pass.

He was beaten to a pulp after he was ambushed by pupils from a rival village while on his way home.

After the brutal assault, Mkhwanazi, a pupil at Mbuyiselo High School in Mandini, on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, was hospitalised for a month and underwent emergency surgery for internal bleeding.

The attack sparked tension, and matric pupils at Mbuyiselo were forced to write their exams under police guard.

Pupils claimed the fight was sparked by a traditional stickfighting ceremony at the weekend and the loser taking the fight to school in an effort to reclaim his honour.

As a result of his injuries, Mkhwanazi could not write his exams in 2017 and could only write in March last year, before being postponed to June, then October, last year.

His principal Gabriel Mkhwanazi described Mkhwanazi as the school’s brightest star. But now he faces another challenge.

Because it was not clear when he would write his matric exams, he was not able to apply for a place at tertiary institutions and now finds himself sitting at home.

He wanted to pursue medicine, but is now considering nursing because he does not want to waste the whole year sitting at home doing nothing.

“I want to pursue medical studies to uplift my area,” he said.

Provincial education spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa said: “As a department, we strongly condemn such incidents as they negatively affect teaching and learning when such faction fights spill over to our schools,” he said.

We condemn such incidents as they negatively affect teaching, learning