The father of a grade 10 teenager stabbed to death outside Geluksdal Secondary School says he started reporting assaults to the school last year when his son first complained of bullying.
“I am so sad. Justice failed me and my son. I have done everything to protect my son. I went to the school and the police and they never helped,” Seun Mahlangu told Newsroom Afrika.
“I am broken, I don’t know what I can say,” the teary father said.
Mahlangu said his son Shawn Mphela, 18, would have been alive if the system was working for them.
“I was going to the school every month, every two weeks, I would be there at school, but they didn’t help me.”
He had been looking for an alternative school for his son.
“Springs College replied to me yesterday [Thursday]. But my child was already gone.”
He recalled that on Wednesday his son cooked a meal in the evening and they spent time together until just after midnight.
“We were load-shed while he was cooking and the electricity came back at 10pm. Then he cooked meat and we ate. After midnight we went to sleep.”
He said the last time he saw his son alive was when he gave him pocket money for school on Thursday morning, only to see his body lying outside the school later that day.
“I lost the whole world.”
Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane visited the family and the school on Friday, offering condolence and pledging to increase security at the institution.
The Gauteng legislature's portfolio committees on community safety and education said they would investigate the effectiveness of school safety interventions in fighting crime.
“Part of what this study will look at is whether all schools in Gauteng have safety plans and the extent to which they are implemented to curb violence in schools.”
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Stabbed pupil complained about assault, bullies from last year: father
Dad alleges school ignored his reports about assaults, bullying
Image: 123RF/Markus Schnessl
The father of a grade 10 teenager stabbed to death outside Geluksdal Secondary School says he started reporting assaults to the school last year when his son first complained of bullying.
“I am so sad. Justice failed me and my son. I have done everything to protect my son. I went to the school and the police and they never helped,” Seun Mahlangu told Newsroom Afrika.
“I am broken, I don’t know what I can say,” the teary father said.
Mahlangu said his son Shawn Mphela, 18, would have been alive if the system was working for them.
“I was going to the school every month, every two weeks, I would be there at school, but they didn’t help me.”
He had been looking for an alternative school for his son.
“Springs College replied to me yesterday [Thursday]. But my child was already gone.”
He recalled that on Wednesday his son cooked a meal in the evening and they spent time together until just after midnight.
“We were load-shed while he was cooking and the electricity came back at 10pm. Then he cooked meat and we ate. After midnight we went to sleep.”
He said the last time he saw his son alive was when he gave him pocket money for school on Thursday morning, only to see his body lying outside the school later that day.
“I lost the whole world.”
Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane visited the family and the school on Friday, offering condolence and pledging to increase security at the institution.
The Gauteng legislature's portfolio committees on community safety and education said they would investigate the effectiveness of school safety interventions in fighting crime.
“Part of what this study will look at is whether all schools in Gauteng have safety plans and the extent to which they are implemented to curb violence in schools.”
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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