A police officer is being investigated over the shooting of a teenager.
Mawande Ngoyo, 18, was shot during unrest at Lindelani Senior Secondary School at Kutela Village near Mount Ayliff last Tuesday.
Police were called when pupils allegedly went on a rampage, damaging school property.
It is alleged an officer used live ammunition and Mawande was shot in the head. He was airlifted to Nelson Mandela Central Hospital where he was placed in the high care unit, and was in a coma.
The teen is not yet fully conscious. He was due for surgery yesterday but the outcome could not be established at the time of writing.
Eastern Cape health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said: “He sustained a gunshot wound to the forehead... the bullet exited on the middle of the of the head. He has lost speech but there are signs of improvements.”
Doctors said the boy was lucky the bullet did not cause serious damage to his brain.
Eastern Cape police spokesman Lieutenant Khaya Tonjeni said yesterday police responded to a complaint at the school that about 100 pupils were vandalising school property and destroying teachers’ vehicles during a protest.
The pupils were said to be demonstrating over apparent plans to remove a mathematics teacher, which was subsequently denied.
“Upon arrival at the school premises, learners started throwing stones at the police. Police retaliated by firing warning shots to disperse the learners,” said Tonjeni.
“After the learners dispersed, police noticed one of the learners was injured in the upper body. He was taken to hospital.”
A case of attempted murder had been opened. “The docket has been handed over to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) for further investigations.” Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini could not be reached at the time of writing, but the teen’s family said investigators had visited them.
Tonjeni said a case of malicious damage to property was also opened against the pupils.
Mathanda and Zine Ngoyo, who took Mawande in when his parents died a few years ago, yesterday demanded justice for their nephew.
“Mawande was a bright child who had big dreams and regarded school as the key to success,” said Zine. “But now, looking at his condition, his future is bleak .... How can you shoot schoolchildren with live ammunition? This is not something we can expect from police in a democratic state. Justice must be done and those responsible must be thrown behind bars and rot in jail.”
Principal Benjamin Mdila said staff were taken aback by last week’s protest action. According to him, pupils were in support of the maths teacher because he gave afternoon and weekend classes.
Mdila denied the mathematics teacher was to be moved and said he was not sure how the rumour, which led to the unrest, started.
He said staff saw pupils running amok last Tuesday, smashing windows of the administration block.
“Police were called to control the situation. We are hurt by all this and pray for his speedy recovery.” — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
Pupil shot in head at school
Mawande Ngoyo, 18, was shot during unrest at Lindelani Senior Secondary School at Kutela Village near Mount Ayliff last Tuesday.
Police were called when pupils allegedly went on a rampage, damaging school property.
It is alleged an officer used live ammunition and Mawande was shot in the head. He was airlifted to Nelson Mandela Central Hospital where he was placed in the high care unit, and was in a coma.
The teen is not yet fully conscious. He was due for surgery yesterday but the outcome could not be established at the time of writing.
Eastern Cape health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said: “He sustained a gunshot wound to the forehead... the bullet exited on the middle of the of the head. He has lost speech but there are signs of improvements.”
Doctors said the boy was lucky the bullet did not cause serious damage to his brain.
Eastern Cape police spokesman Lieutenant Khaya Tonjeni said yesterday police responded to a complaint at the school that about 100 pupils were vandalising school property and destroying teachers’ vehicles during a protest.
The pupils were said to be demonstrating over apparent plans to remove a mathematics teacher, which was subsequently denied.
“Upon arrival at the school premises, learners started throwing stones at the police. Police retaliated by firing warning shots to disperse the learners,” said Tonjeni.
“After the learners dispersed, police noticed one of the learners was injured in the upper body. He was taken to hospital.”
A case of attempted murder had been opened. “The docket has been handed over to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) for further investigations.” Ipid spokesman Moses Dlamini could not be reached at the time of writing, but the teen’s family said investigators had visited them.
Tonjeni said a case of malicious damage to property was also opened against the pupils.
Mathanda and Zine Ngoyo, who took Mawande in when his parents died a few years ago, yesterday demanded justice for their nephew.
“Mawande was a bright child who had big dreams and regarded school as the key to success,” said Zine. “But now, looking at his condition, his future is bleak .... How can you shoot schoolchildren with live ammunition? This is not something we can expect from police in a democratic state. Justice must be done and those responsible must be thrown behind bars and rot in jail.”
Principal Benjamin Mdila said staff were taken aback by last week’s protest action. According to him, pupils were in support of the maths teacher because he gave afternoon and weekend classes.
Mdila denied the mathematics teacher was to be moved and said he was not sure how the rumour, which led to the unrest, started.
He said staff saw pupils running amok last Tuesday, smashing windows of the administration block.
“Police were called to control the situation. We are hurt by all this and pray for his speedy recovery.” — lulamilef@dispatch.co.za
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