"Our children are dying — they are being shot and injured. What else can we do?"
This is the question from Charis Pretorius, a spokesperson for the Eldorado Park Schools Governing Bodies Forum, which was established this week to unify the voices of SGBs.
The forum, representing 32 SGBs from primary and secondary schools in Eldorado Park, Freedom Park and Klipsruit West, hopes the education department will listen to them as they continue to fight violence at their schools.
This week, the forum gave Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane an ultimatum to ensure safety at schools after recent violence associated with gangsterism in the area.
"We decided there is a need for one voice for the SGBs so that we can all speak in that one voice and ensure that the department comes to the party.There have been shootings and stabbings in our schools and it seems no one cares," she said.
Forum chairperson Laeeq Wax said they have given the department until 4pm on Friday to respond to their message for a meeting, and if there was no response, it would lead to the closure of schools in the area.
Wax said gangsterism in the area has spiralled out of control this year.
"It is like they want to make Gauteng [similar to] what is happening in Cape Town, where it is a norm, but here in Gauteng we are going to stand up, we are not going to leave it to spiral out of control."
Wax said councillors were quiet on the matter.
"Police don't care and that is the problem we are faced with," he said.
Wax said most schools were being protected by crime prevention wardens, but they were not given the power to search children entering the schools.
He said the department should implement a policy that allows children to be searched when entering the schools.
He said schools were being threatened and they were seeing no action from the MEC despite their complaints and requests for meetings with department officials.
"We don't even see our circuit managers. They are nowhere to be seen. They don’t phone to find out what is happening, it is quite disturbing because we cannot just search any learner, we need consent," he said.
Wax added they have discovered that boys at some schools were using girl learners to smuggle weapons.
"They hide firearms and knives in their underwear. When fighting starts you wonder where all these knives and guns are coming from," he said.
The forum said it was left with no other option but to close all schools and stop the matric preliminary exams for five days until their demands are met.
Pretorius said schools can no longer be held hostage by ill-disciplined learners and a department that lacks the will to service the community.
She said they have asked for metal detectors to prevent children bringing weapons to school and have asked for children to be searched, but the department was not coming on board.
"What about the educator who has to sit in a classroom with the child who is attempting to stab them? How does that educator deal with that and be an effective educator? How do we deal with those types of challenges? How do we deal with support when you have only one safety person for the entire school?" she asked.
She added that psycho-social workers who go to those schools pull out of the process and tell the principal they cannot work there as the situation is volatile. "But you leave that principal, educators and those learners in that volatile situation; how can that be OK?"
She said the wardens were sent to schools, but when it was a "gun battle" what could they be expected to do when they are not armed?
She said if the MEC doesn't respond before the end of Friday, they would engage with the communities on Saturday and take their directives from them.
Gauteng education department spokesperson Steve Mabona said the department was aware of the planned disruption of schools in the area.
"Consequently, we are working with the Eldorado Park School Safety Community Forum (Crisis Committee) which was formed on August 21.
"With regards to the school safety and psycho-social issues, it must be noted that such issues are identified and referred to the department for necessary intervention respectively," Mabona said.
Mabona said this intervention yielded remarkable reduction in incidents reported.
"The department strongly condemns the disruption of schools and urge all stakeholders to use available structures to raise issues of concern and not to disrupt schooling. Lost contact time is not easily recovered."
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