Two Durban teens arrested for murder of schoolmate

Two Durban teenagers aged 14 and 15 have been arrested for the murder of a fellow pupil.

According to police, the shooting took place on Thursday on Warwick Avenue, which is in the vicinity of the school.

"He sustained a shot wound on the abdomen and was taken to hospital where he later succumbed to his injury," said police spokesman Lt-Col Thulani Zwane.

The boy died in hospital on Friday.

TimesLIVE is not naming the school because it could not be reached for comment.

KwaZulu-Natal education department spokesman Kwazi Mthethwa said that the incident had not been brought to the attention of the department. He said that because the incident happened outside school premises it was more a police issue. Mthethwa did, however, condemn the incident.

"We view this as an attack on the future of the province. It's not just an attack on one learner but an attack on the province. If you kill a learner you are killing the future," said Mthethwa.

Meanwhile, South African crime statistics, released on Thursday, revealed that 736 of the 21,022 murders recorded by police between April 2018 and March 2019 were committed by children.