Durban - Former Eshowe pupil Simphiwe Shange, who is suing the KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC for R3.9 million in damages, described on Wednesday how his life changed after he was partially blinded in one eye when a teacher allegedly hit him with a belt.
Shange, who was testifying before Durban High Court Judge Dhaya Pillay, claims Moses Biyela, the then deputy principal of Gcwalulwazi High School, accidentally struck him with a belt while he was disciplining another pupil in 2003.
The department denies that the incident occurred.
Shange, 26, who was in Grade 9 when he says he was injured, told the court he failed school the next year because he could not concentrate, which he attributed to his injury, and has not been to school since.
He said he could not get a “decent job” because he had not completed high school and his life went downhill.
Describing the incident, Shange said he had been sitting in class when Biyela walked in.
“He asked the class who owned a school bag that had been placed on an open window. My classmates pointed to Nhlakanipho Ntuli, who was sitting behind me. Biyela then took off his belt and told Ntuli to lie with his head on his desk and then struck him with the belt. While Biyela was hitting him, the belt struck my eye and I cried out in pain.”
Shange said while he was in pain for two weeks after he was struck, he only realised the extent of his injury a year later when he tried to use a video camera, and he then reported the incident to his mother.
Asked why he only noticed the significance of the injury a year after he claimed it occurred, Shange replied: “Even now I think I am seeing through both eyes because I have a wide view with my left eye. It is only when I block my left eye that I cannot see.”
During cross-examination, Advocate Feisal Abraham, acting for the education MEC, said Shange could not remember the exact date when the incident occurred because the incident had not happened.
Shange replied that Biyela had apologised for the incident and promised to take him to a doctor.
Cape Town ophthalmologist Raoul Scholtz, who treated Shange, said he had a detached retina in his right eye and his vision was limited to seeing hand movements.
Scholtz said he had conducted three operations to stabilise the retina but said Shange’s vision was unlikely to improve.
S’thembiso Khanyile, a classmate of Shange’s in 2003, said he heard Shange cry out in pain and clutch his eye during the beating. “I did not see the belt hit him, but when Ntuli was being punished, Shange cried out and put his hand over his eye. that’s when I realised that he had been hit.”
The trial continues on Thursday.
The Mercury