For the last six months, the streets of F-section in Khayelitsha empty out before pupils leave class, a terrified resident said.
|||Cape Town - A gang of pupils from Bulumko Secondary School in Khayelitsha is apparently terrorising the community of F section in Khayelitsha.
A woman who lives less than a hundred metres from the school contacted the Cape Argus after her nephew was stabbed to death in the street outside her house. The police could not confirm the incident, saying that the relevant communications officer was not available until this week.
The murder happened in the early hours of Sunday a week ago. The woman, who asked to be identified only as “Cornelia”, spoke of how she looked on as a gang attacked a man in the street outside her house. She believes that they are part of the same group of Bulumko pupils who have been fighting among themselves and occasionally mugging residents in F section.
Only after the attackers fled did neighbours venture outside.
She said that for the last six months, the streets empty out before pupils at the school leave class on weekday afternoons.
“It has been going on for a long time. Every morning I have to ask my son to walk me to the taxi stop because it is not safe. But even him, as a grown man, is afraid to stay at my house alone,” she said.
The Cape Argus contacted the school and spoke to a senior staff member. The teacher admitted that there were weekly incidents of fighting on and off campus involving the school’s pupils – boys from the age of 14 and up. He said that the school had punished pupils for fighting, but had not yet expelled anyone.
“When they are all together it is difficult to identify who the main perpetrators are,” said the teacher. When asked for his name, the man said that he wanted to remain anonymous amid safety concerns.
But Cornelia warned that, in the absence of police intervention, the community could turn on the pupils and mete out vigilante punishment. In recent months there have been a number such mob justice cases ranging from beating and stoning perpetrators to burning them alive using tyres as fuel.
In February last year the Cape Argus reported on teenage street gangs fighting among themselves with knives and pangas in Khayelitsha. The came after 17-year-old Zubenathi Samela was stabbed twice in the head, and on his arm, near his Ngwamza Street home. Also in August, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille set up a commission of inquiry into the efficiency of policing in Khayelitsha. The commission is now the subject of a court battle, after police Minister Nathi Mthethwa challenged its legality. An appeal is set to be heard by the Constitutional Court this August.
“In the meanwhile the commission has been put on hold, although a skeleton staff remains to gather evidence and to log complaints from the community,” said Amanda Dissel, the commission’s secretary.
daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za
Cape Argus