Durban - The MEC for Education, Peggy Nkonyeni, has confirmed the decision of Maritzburg College to expel a schoolboy who was caught twice in possession of dagga, after being pushed by a high court ruling to decide on the matter.
Her spokesman, Sihle Mlotshwa, said on Friday that the MEC decided that it was in the best interest of the Grade 11 pupil and the school for him to be removed and “placed elsewhere in the district”. He would be assisted by the district education officials to find a new school.
Mlotshwa said the issue of pupils taking drugs was a matter that would take “all of us as society to fight and conquer. We can’t do it alone,” he said.
On July 14, the school brought an application to the Pietermaritzburg High Court to force the MEC to decide on the appeal of the expelled pupil after getting no feedback from the department. The court gave the MEC 10 days to do so.
Court papers said that the boy had a “dismal record”. In the past two and a half years he had accumulated 13 detentions and had been caught fighting twice. His latest offence was the second time he had been caught with dagga.
He started at the school as a boarder in 2012, but was asked to leave last February after admitting to possessing marijuana. However, he remained as a day scholar and was given a final warning.
The Mercury