Teachers watched schoolboy killing

01 November 2013 - 02:23 By NIVASHNI NAIR
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Sizimile High School teachers stood at a staff room window and watched a group of boys kick, punch and hit 18-year-old Bongani Nkabinde with an iron knobkerrie.

They did not try to stop the fight, which continued for at least five minutes just metres from the staff room and the principal's office at the school in Dannhauser, KwaZulu-Natal.

In a video that has gone viral, five boys are seen launching a savage attack on Nkabinde. He died minutes later.

The principal was preparing for the first paper of the 2013 matric examinations at the time.

Dannhauser station commissioner Major Bongani Ntanda said yesterday: "About six teachers said they watched from the staff room.

The cellphone footage shows that they did not intervene."

While some terrified pupils ran to their classrooms, others pulled out their cellphones and began recording the savage attack on Monday. Nobody went to Nkabinde's rescue.

He died on arrival at the clinic just 800m from his school.

The KwaZulu-Natal education department defended the teachers yesterday, saying there was no need for teachers to explain where they were at the time of the attack.

"They were at school. I don't need to say where in school," spokesman Muzi Mahlambi said. "What did you want them to do? In the course of spears being brandished, what do people expect them to do? Even if they ran away, there was nothing wrong with that."

Mahlambi said the teachers had called the police.

"The police are trained to deal with violent situations, not educators. It is not the educators' job to stop fights," he said.

The school does not employ security guards.

On Monday, the education department said a group of outsiders had run onto the school grounds and Nkabinde was stabbed.

But the video - which went viral even before Nkabinde's parents had been informed of his death - showed Sizimele schoolboys repeatedly beating him until he lay unmoving on the ground.

Ntanda said the police had discovered, following the arrest of three of the boys, that Nkabinde was killed in a fight over a girl.

"He was not in love with the girl. Two [other] boys from the two different gangs that have been fighting for some time fell for the same girl. Remarks were exchanged on Friday and members of both gangs got into a fight. The fight continued on Monday resulting in the boy's death," he said.

The Mbabane JP and Allen Farm groups had been feuding for years, Ntanda said.

"They come from different areas. Although they live just 16km apart, the divide between them is big."

The police were called in when the groups fought at the school in February, Ntanda said.

In 2009, Sizimele High School was placed under police supervision after teachers reported that pupils were abusing drugs.

"The drug situation was bad but we managed to solve that. But then the fight between these two groups started so the school's problems continued. Unfortunately over the years it has been a very problematic school. We focus on this school when we have our campaigns," Ntanda said.

Over the years police have found knives and traditional weapons on pupils during spot searches.

"It is concerning that the pupils had weapons during the latest fight but it is not surprising. The school doesn't have security guards . just watchmen from the community."

Ntanda said police had stepped up monitoring efforts. "We are concerned that there might be revenge attacks."

Mahlambi said the three 19-year-old boys, Sphamandla Mazibuko, Sbongiseni Ndaba and Thabani Langa, who had appeared in court on a murder charge had been remanded until next week. A case against two others was being investigated.

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