Cape Town - The father of a Table View High School learner who was assaulted during a fight says he had to take his son for medical examinations after he started urinating blood.
The father discovered on Friday that his son was involved in a fight with a fellow schoolmate outside the school premises.
Initial reports by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) noted that the brawl was allegedly over a packet of chips, but the father has since said it was, in fact, over a phone.
A video of the two learners involved in the brawl scuffle is still circulating on social media.
The father said he was shocked to notice that his son was peeing blood.
“The incident started because of the phone. My boy lost the phone at school, and when he went to ask for his phone, one of the learners, who he alleged took it, started to beat him up.
“It is the same learner that the cover of the phone was found in his blazer.
“My son was afraid to fight back because he and his friends were a few compared to other learner’s friends.
“A person who was driving past the school saw the incident and stopped them. As we are speaking now, I am going up and down, taking my son to hospital, and he has not been in school ever since the incident.
“All I want is justice for my son,” said the father.
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the department noted the seriousness of the incident, as caught on camera, and has been in contact with the school.
“Physical assault and abuse cannot be tolerated under any circumstance. There are however, false allegations being spread regarding this incident at Table View High. It is important that the facts are presented.
“There are three incidents that are being investigated by the School Governing Body (SGB): An altercation between the victim in the video and another learner allegedly over a packet of chips. This was not caught on camera.
“The alleged theft of the victim's phone, the physical altercation outside the school, as caught on camera, four learners are involved. Three face disciplinary action,” said Hammond.
The alleged victim in the video is not facing disciplinary action but has been called as a witness, while the learner in the video seen assaulting the victim has been temporarily suspended.
The EFF in the province condemned the incident.
“It has also been brought to our attention that the genesis of this fight between these two learners started when a group of learners took a mobile phone of the black learner against his will.
“When the learner sought to get his phone back from the other learner from whom the phone cover was found, the white learner only gave him the bus ticket that he had on his phone before it was taken.”
Cape Times