Cape Town - A witness has described how a teen, stabbed in the chest during an argument apparently over a cap, collapsed and later died in front of scores of hysterical youngsters trying to get into a school concert in Lansdowne.
The murder happened late on Friday outside Oaklands High School’s gates.
On Saturday police confirmed an 18-year-old was killed and a 20-year-old arrested.
He is expected to appear in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court this week.
The murdered teen’s identity was not released on Saturday as it was not clear if his family had been informed of his death.
Hanif Loonat, chairman of the Mitchells Plain community police forum, said he was part of a group who volunteered to control the crowd and he had been outside the grounds of the school when the stabbing occurred.
He said the high school had hosted a variety concert and hundreds of people had packed into a hall.
“We had to close the (main) gate because there were too many people trying to get in.
“There were people loitering outside the school hoping to get inside.”
He and other forum and neighbourhood watch members had been stationed outside the school to try to control the crowd. The stabbing had happened near Loonat.
“There was an argument over a cap between the two,” he said.
The young man wearing the cap, who Loonat believed was a pupil at the school, had pulled out a knife and stabbed the teen.
“He ran towards us and collapsed right in front of us. He was stabbed in his heart. He just lay there and he died about an hour later. He was foaming at the mouth and you could see he was in shock.”
Loonat said the wounded teen had not been able to speak while dying.
He said youngsters who had been hoping to attend the concert had seen what had happened and some of them had started crying.
“They were devastated,” Loonat said.
The suspect was arrested at the scene.
Hylton Mitchell, secretary of the Lansdowne and Rondebosch East neighbourhood watch, told Weekend Argus that before the stabbing, its members were called to the school because the crowd had become rowdy.
Yesterday police spokeswoman Constable Noloyiso Rwexana said the stabbing happened outside the school at about 10pm.
She said officers who went to the scene discovered the 18-year-old had been stabbed in the chest.
Rwexana said the 20-year-old was arrested and a murder case was being investigated.
Weekend Argus