Eastern Cape’s public-school sector is caught up in a wave of unrestrained violence. Learners, mainly boys, attack each other all the time for reasons ranging from frivolous to preposterous.
The communities are at their wits’ end for lack of local leadership to deal with the scourge. Even worse, the state does not seem to know what to do to end the blood-letting rampage. An article in the Sunday World on Friday, reports about pupils brutally attacking others busy studying for their final exams.
Three were shot dead in separate Mdantsane schools in East London this week. Last week, a pupil from Parterson High in Gqeberha was executed by a gang of pupils.
The young murderers are clearly caught up in a society that lacks male role models in their communities. What chance do they have when teachers routinely act criminally?
In the same report, a teacher in Komani (formerly Queenstown) is facing a charge of murder for setting a 17-year-old pupil alight. The boy was literally executed, for allegedly stealing chickens. What kind of teacher, or any man, sets a child on fire because he had been naughty?
This teacher in Komani gets the moegoe title today, for his barbarism. Unam Sishuba was buried earlier on Friday. May his young soul rest in peace.
