Education MEC Mlungisi Mvoko has suspended all the Selborne schoolboys allegedly involved in assaulting a peer in the schoolyard on Friday.
It follows an image posted by Buffalo City Metro spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya on his Facebook page of his grade 10 nephew, 15, with a torn lip.
He claimed there had been a racial tone to the incident and that the 15 boys who beat his nephew were white.
In a statement released on Sunday by Mvoko’s spokesperson, Malibongwe Mtima, he said all the pupils involved had been placed on “precautionary suspension”.
Mvoko said he had “noted with shame the spate of violence that has engulfed Eastern Cape schools”.
“The suspension was not a pronouncement on the verdict of any of the pupils involved, but is aimed at serving as a ‘cooling off period’, and to allow the department and the school to conduct and complete their investigations.
“On completion of the investigation, disciplinary action may follow but all will be determined by the outcome of the investigation,” he said.
Selborne’s public relations officer Jeff Fetting had not responded to calls or messages at the time of going to print...