Principal 'jinxed kids'

2003-05-12 20:52

Zenzele Kuhlase

Nelspruit - Mid-year exams were disrupted at an Mpumalanga high school on Monday, less than three weeks after order was restored at the same school following a near month-long boycott.

Pupils at Lihawu secondary school in Msogwaba tribal trust near Nelspruit have again accused their principal of witchcraft after a schoolmate was knocked down by a car on Friday.

They blame principal Samuel Ngobeni for the incident, saying he's dabbling in black magic, which resulted in the deaths of three other children earlier this year.

Ngobeni was not immediately available to comment.

The pupils stoned classes on Monday and repeated calls for Ngobeni's dismissal.

In previous incidents, one pupil carelessly wandered in front of car while walking with his schoolmates, and died. Another sat precariously on the back of a bakkie and fell off and died. A third got in with the wrong crowd who were smoking dagga behind the school and was stabbed to death.

On Friday, a soccer player was walking in the street after playing a game at school and was hit by a car.

KaNyamazane police station spokesperson Inspector Isaac Mnisi said police were called to the school. Pupils fled when they saw the police approach.

Mnisi and station commissioner Superintendent Dirk Hall were injured when they tried to restore order at the school last month.

At the time, in a desperate bid to resume schooling, education MEC Craig Padayachee and safety and security MEC Thabang Makwetla, met with the school leaders and promised to look into their concerns.

Department of education spokesperson Jafta Zwane was unaware of the disruption on Monday and promised to look into the matter.

- African Eye