Pupils, teachers and parents at Eerst River Secondary School were on Tuesday coming to terms with the death of 17-year-old Moegamat Kannemeyer, who was stabbed to death by another pupil during an argument at the school on Monday.
As shocked relatives prepared his funeral on Tuesday, principal Bernardus Esterhuizen suspended classes for two hours and called a special assembly where visibly traumatised pupils and teachers were encouraged to deal with the trauma of Kannemeyer's death.
Speakers opened their hearts to both teenagers' families and urged other pupils to use this time of grief for self-reflection.
"It is, indeed, a great shock to us all and it touches one deeply to hear a learner died like this. We must bring back self-respect among young people. There is so much anger among our youth and many bring their (anger) to school where their learning day is affected. We must have more tolerance among learners," teacher Ricky Cupido told a packed school hall.
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| 'We must bring back self-respect among young people' |
He pleaded with Kannemeyer's friends not to retaliate and said all pupils should restore pride in their homes, their lives and the school.
"We have to start respecting ourselves so we can respect others. We must say 'I'm not going to allow another incident like this to happen again'.
"Our community needs healing and we're going to have to start today if we want to push back this darkness," Cupido said.
Education department circuit manager Jan Odendal said eight psychologists had been deployed to the school to counsel Kannemeyer's classmates, his attacker's classmates and their teachers.
The psychologists will be at the school until on Thursday.
| 'We're all touched by this tragedy' |
"We're all touched by this tragedy; none more so than Moegamat's parents and parents of the other learner.
"At this school we have to start caring for each other. It hurts so much to see how, when we are suppose to unite against outside evils, we fight among ourselves," said Esterhuizen.
At the Kannemeyer home the boy's father, Ebrahim Kannemeyer, spoke fondly of his son, who would have been 18 next month.
"He was a jovial boy, always smiling and happy. We are going to miss him.
"I don't want to talk about what happened because now I'm very emotional and might say something wrong. We'll talk about that after everything is over.
"Right now, we just want to deal with him being gone," he said.
In the backyard the teenager's mother, Chihaam Kannemeyer, showed how his school uniform was shredded in the attack.
She said that although family members were shocked, they appreciated the support that came from Esterhuizen, department officials and the community.
About her son's killer, she said: "I don't know what to say about him, but I feel very sorry for his family because of what their son did and what he now has to go through."
Kannemeyer was buried according to Muslim rites on Tuesday afternoon.
The alleged attacker appears in the Blue Downs magistrate's court on Wednesday.
- This article was originally published on page 4 of Cape Times on May 30, 2007
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