Johannesburg - A 14-year-old pupil at General Alberts Primary School had a disciplinary hearing recently after allegedly punching a 10-year-old pupil last week, landing her in hospital.
The pupil’s mother has opened a case at the Alberton police station and the alleged perpetrator has been charged with assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The parents’ identities have been withheld to protect their children’s identities.
The girl was punched in the face, leaving her with a nose bleed that lasted days.
Her younger brother was assaulted the week before, allegedly by the same attacker.
“He kicked my boy in the head and private parts. When he punched my daughter, he said: ‘Tell your brother, this is what’s coming,’” said their mother.
The woman is one of three parents in the area whose children have been bullied.
A second mother said both her children were emotionally abused at their school. She said schools did not do anything about these cases, simply telling the children to “hug it out”.
“Do they want children to die before they do something?” asked the second mother.
She said other children had had their schoolbags broken and their stationery stolen.
The first mother said her daughter had been assaulted while pupils were changing classes.
She said the teacher whose class her daughter was going to didn’t help when she saw her face bleeding. Her child was told to go to the bathroom and clean herself up.
The mother said her classmates were laughing at her, saying she had Ebola.
She said she wasn’t just calling on schools to take bullying seriously, but urging parents to play their part.
“If it were my kids doing this to other children, they’d be in big trouble,” she said.
Gauteng Department of Education spokeswoman Phumla Sekhonyane said the department was aware of the incident. She said hearings were conducted by school governing bodies with the support of the department.
* Tsundzukani Mthombeni, 18, from Phineas Xulu Secondary in Vosloorus, was found guilty of culpable homicide and illegal possession of a gun after he shot dead fellow pupil Nkululeko Ndlovu, 18, in 2012.
Mthombeni was sentenced to seven years in jail on culpable homicide and two years for possession of the gun, both sentences suspended for five years.
Ndlovu bullied Mthombeni, prompting him to take a service pistol belonging to his constable mother to school.
The shooting happened the day after Ndlovu and a group of pupils stoned Mthombeni and stole his cellphone and clothes.
In his judgment last month, Judge Bert Bam said the difficult position Mthombeni found himself in due to being constantly bullied and tormented was understandable.
“Mthombeni was apparently unable to defend himself after being subjected to acts of violence and degraded. Being a bully could have never justified Ndlovu’s death, but one can appreciate that the accused found himself in a very difficult position,” said the judge.
“Why this bullying was never dealt with by the school, or why the accused never told his mother, can’t be explained.”
* In a more recent case, four pupils from Hoërskool Landboudal Noordkaapland, in the Northern Cape, are facing rape and common assault charges.
This follows an incident, captured on a video clip that went viral, showing the four pouring shampoo over a Grade 12 boy while he was tied to his hostel bed.
The perpetrators - two aged 18, one 15 and the other 14 - allegedly shoved a toothbrush and the handle of a mop into his rectum, while his peers watched.
The Star