Mthatha Technical College pupils went on the rampage yesterday, setting the school’s bakkie alight, damaging three computers and the administration block and threatening to burn kitchen staff alive.
The cost of the damage could run into hundreds of thousands of rands.
The violence broke out shortly after 8am when pupils went around the school singing defiance songs.
They were protesting against having to return technical drawing boards at the end of the year and paying for student cards.
The school’s boarding master, Monwabisi Mtongana, said pupils threw stones at staff who intervened.
“They also tried to torch the school with the gas stoves at the nutrition class,” he said.
A cook, who declined to give her name, said she and three other kitchen staff feared for their lives.
“They forced their way into the kitchen. We heard them saying they wanted to light the gas stove and burn us inside,” she said.
The four women managed to flee the kitchen when pupils went to the school’s garage and pushed a Mazda bakkie out, before setting it alight.
The pupils were instructed to vacate the premises and the school was closed indefinitely.
A Grade 12 pupil said the school wanted them to pay R200 for technical drawing boards and R65 for student cards. The pupil said in the past they had only paid R20 for the cards.
Principal Bongani Dinga referred questions to the OR Tambo district education department. Education MEC Mandla Makupula said the incident had not been reported to him and he could not comment.
Education department spokesman Malibongwe Mtima condemned the incident.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela said no arrests had been made and police were investigating a case of damage to property. — ndamasem@dispatch.co.za
Pupils try to set school alight
The cost of the damage could run into hundreds of thousands of rands.
The violence broke out shortly after 8am when pupils went around the school singing defiance songs.
They were protesting against having to return technical drawing boards at the end of the year and paying for student cards.
The school’s boarding master, Monwabisi Mtongana, said pupils threw stones at staff who intervened.
“They also tried to torch the school with the gas stoves at the nutrition class,” he said.
A cook, who declined to give her name, said she and three other kitchen staff feared for their lives.
“They forced their way into the kitchen. We heard them saying they wanted to light the gas stove and burn us inside,” she said.
The four women managed to flee the kitchen when pupils went to the school’s garage and pushed a Mazda bakkie out, before setting it alight.
The pupils were instructed to vacate the premises and the school was closed indefinitely.
A Grade 12 pupil said the school wanted them to pay R200 for technical drawing boards and R65 for student cards. The pupil said in the past they had only paid R20 for the cards.
Principal Bongani Dinga referred questions to the OR Tambo district education department. Education MEC Mandla Makupula said the incident had not been reported to him and he could not comment.
Education department spokesman Malibongwe Mtima condemned the incident.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela said no arrests had been made and police were investigating a case of damage to property. — ndamasem@dispatch.co.za
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