Mrs Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa, MPL
IFP KZN Provincial Spokesperson on Education
The IFP in KZN calls for the MEC of Education in KZN to provide stricter security measures in KwaZulu-Natal schools. This comes after a teacher was wounded on Wednesday in Buhlebethu Primary School when gunmen posing as parents opened fire. This was one of two bloody crime scenes at KZN schools on Wednesday, as two pupils stabbed each other at a school near Empangeni.
The IFP is against the Department officials hypocrisy and staging visits everytime there has been incidents like these in KZN schools because for a very long time we have been advising the Department to increase safety and security measures in KZN schools due to reoccuring incidents of violence and criminal activities taking place within school yards.
For years we expected the KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC to install better security not 'visits' because places like Durban are heavily affected by acts of violence and criminal elements. This is not the first incident to happen in a Durban school recently. Just in June last year, a 48-year-old teacher was killed when he was shot at the Masuku Primary school in Folweni,South of Durban. The teacher was shot in the head and abdomen and died.
Still, the Department did not implement tighter security controls. Instead, the Department of Education is always reactionary. They wait for people to die before acting like it cares about safety of teachers and learners. These incidents are a clear indication that the KZN Department of Education has failed dismally to tackle the issue of school safety accordingly.
Just recently two pupils, in Grade 8 and 9 respectively, had stabbed each other at Old Mill Secondary School in the King Cetshwayo District. One of the pupils was rushed to hospital and that there were no fatalities recorded.
As the IFP we have been calling and we will continue to call for installation of metal detectors, cameras and strict security personnel that will ensure that whoever gains access into the school does not have any dangerous weapons with them. These suspects who gained access to the school under the disguise of being parents would have been stopped if these security measures were in place.
We have raised our concerns about lack of safety in schools many times in the past but our calls seems to continue to fall on deaf ears time and time again. To send words of condolences to the families of the deceased means nothing and it does not solve any problem. Many people have spoken with a loud and united voice in the past about lack of safety in schools and the KZN Department of Education would be fooling itself if it does not heed the issues raised.
The KZN Department of Education must wake up from its slumber and acknowledge that the Province of KwaZulu-Natal is in serious problems.
Lastly, we would like to wish the injured teacher a speedy recovery!
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Contact:
Mrs Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa, MPL
IFP KZN Provincial Spokesperson on Education
071 8843844/ 079 1143015
