Cape Town – On the second day of the second term, a school principal was brutally attacked by two assailants and stabbed multiple times at his school premises.
The Western Cape Education Department said it was monitoring his condition after two attackers entered the school premises on Wednesday morning and stabbed him.
It appears the attack was in retaliation to Wayne Abrahams, principal of the Bishop Lavis School of Skills, commencing disciplinary proceedings against a pupil who had shot another in the leg in March.
Jessica Shelver, spokesperson for Education MEC Debbie Schäfer, said the principal had been threatened prior to the attack.
"The assault apparently followed threats against the principal in the event that he proceed with the disciplinary hearing of a learner who allegedly shot another 15-year-old learner in the leg at the school on 27 March 2017 in a gang-related incident.
"The principal reported that he received threats towards the end of the first term, should he proceed with a disciplinary hearing against the alleged the perpetrator.
"According to our information, the two assailants entered the school premises this morning before 07:00 and accosted the principal in the foyer. They allegedly stabbed him multiple times in the head, neck, shoulder and chest.
"The perpetrators then reportedly ran off when the caretaker arrived on the scene.
"We condemn this vicious attack in the strongest possible terms.
"Any attack on a teacher or principal is completely unacceptable.
"An attack such as this on someone who is dedicating his life to uplifting the youth of this province, and who is trying to do the right thing in taking disciplinary action to protect his learners, shows how warped some peoples’ values are.
"We are currently monitoring the principal’s condition. Senior department officials, officials from Safe Schools, and the South African and Metropolitan Police were on the scene this morning.
"Safe Schools has arranged four additional security guards, while the Metropolitan Police have deployed two additional School Resource Officers to the school. The department will provide trauma counselling, as required.
"We trust that SAPS will take very swift action in finding and arresting these perpetrators. We shall then request our Department of Community Safety to keep a watching brief on this matter to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
"This kind of behaviour is damaging to the education of our learners in the Western Cape, and will not be tolerated," Shelver said.