Durban - A Kwamashu pupil is being investigated for taking a firearm and 16 bullets to school a day after an argument with a teacher.
The 15-year-old Grade 9 pupil was arrested at Sivananda High School on Friday and appeared in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
He was released into his parent’s custody, but the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education does not want him back at school.
Police spokesman, Captain Thulani Zwane, said on Tuesday that the police were investigating a case of possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
“The boy was arrested last Friday at the school with the gun.
“The bullets were found in the toilet where he had hidden them,” he said.
Zwane said another pupil alerted staff, who phoned the police.
He said ballistics tests would also be done on the gun to see if it was linked to any other crimes.
A source at the school told the Daily News the boy had not returned to school since the incident.
He said the firearm had belonged to the pupil’s late father.
Education Department spokesman, Muzi Mahlambi, described the incident as alarming.
“In this kind of situation, we do expel pupils.
“We normally have a tribunal where the case is heard, but in this instance, we don’t have to wait for expulsion stage,” he said.
“This child posed a threat to staff and other pupils. Sixteen bullets – that could have been 16 lives lost.”
Mahlambi said if the gun had been loaded and had accidentally gone off, innocent lives would have been lost.
“This child brought a gun to school after an argument with a teacher. Perhaps it would be different if he had brought the gun out of the blue, but his intentions were clear.
“This was calculated,” he said. “He is a danger and we can’t have such a child at our schools.”
In a separate incident, Sapa reports that an 18-year-old boy was stabbed outside a school in Shakaskraal, about 50km north of Durban.
Zwane said that although the suspect was known, he had yet to be arrested.
Netcare 911 spokesman, Chris Botha, said the teenager had been stabbed outside the school and was found on the road.
He had sustained several stab wounds and was taken to hospital.
Zwane said a case of assault with the intent to commit grievous bodily harm had been lodged at the Umhlali police station.
Daily News