A 17-year-old pupil at a special needs school in KwaZulu-Natal reportedly locked himself inside his room for two days, too traumatised to leave, after he was allegedly assaulted by a kitchen staff member at the school.
The teenager, a pupil at Daniel Mzamo School for children with special needs in Mhlabatshane in the Ugu District, refused to come out of his room after the incident last week, prompting his family to remove him from the school.
Daniel Mzamo School is a facility that caters for learners with special educational needs, providing specialised teaching and support services for pupils who require additional care and supervision. Families entrust such schools with some of the province’s most vulnerable children.
The boy’s uncle, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the minor, said his nephew phoned him in distress after he and another pupil were allegedly beaten by an adult employed in the school’s kitchen.
“He used his hands to assault them. My nephew was distraught and crying when he called me,” the uncle said.
“When I got to the school, he was extremely shaken. One of the teachers who assists him with athletics gave him painkillers because he was in pain. After the incident he locked himself in his room for two days before we could arrange for someone to fetch him and take him home.”
After receiving the call, the uncle said he immediately contacted the school to find out what had happened.
The school indicated that this was not the first time the staff member had allegedly assaulted pupils, according to the uncle.
“They told me that previously he had been moved to work in the garden to keep him away from the children. But it seems he was brought back to work in the kitchen and that’s when this happened again,” he said.
This needs to be exposed. Some of these children cannot even speak up for themselves. Who knows how many incidents go unreported?
— Family member of victim
The family is now demanding accountability, saying children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to abuse.
“This needs to be exposed. Some of these children cannot even speak up for themselves. Who knows how many incidents go unreported?” he said.
He has since taken the boy for counselling.
“He is a child who has already been through a lot of trauma in his life.”
The teenager is the only child of the uncle’s late sister and has endured a series of painful losses from a young age.
“He was very close to his mother. In fact, he was sleeping next to her the night she passed away,” the uncle said.
“He spent the whole night next to her, not realising she had died until my mother went to check on my sister in the morning and discovered she had passed away.”
After his mother’s death, his grandmother became his main source of comfort, but tragedy struck again.
“My mother also passed away peacefully in the night, and once again he was the child who woke up to realise in the morning that she was gone,” he said.
To make matters worse, the boy’s father died last year.
“With everything he has gone through, the last place he should be experiencing violence is at school,” he said.
The uncle said the school later contacted him and claimed the alleged attacker had previously been a pupil at the institution and was currently undergoing psychological treatment.
“They said he has had financial and life problems and that they feel compelled to assist him because he was once their student,” he said.
“But my question is: do we have to wait until a child dies before they act?”
KwaZulu-Natal education department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi confirmed the department was aware of the allegations.
“We are looking into the matter. The department takes a dim view of such incidents,” he said.
Meanwhile, the traumatised teenager has refused to return to the school.
“He says he will only go back if that man is no longer there,” the uncle said.
“He is supposed to be enjoying his school years. Last year, he even represented the school in athletics in Cape Town and won medals. Now he is too afraid to go back.”
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