Boy shot dead in school yard

2003-05-15 08:14

Elaine Anderson

Pietermaritzburg - Nkosikhona Ngema, a 17-year-old grade 9 pupil, was walking towards the playground at Zibukezulu Secondary School in Imbali near Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday morning when a shot rang out, striking him in the back. Soon afterwards he died in Edendale hospital.

Police have arrested a 23-year-old grade 12 pupil in connection with the shooting.

Zibukezulu principal Innocent Khumalo said he was in the hall when he heard a noise like a cracker. "A few minutes later a group of boys came to the office carrying the student and said he was injured. He had been shot in the chest and was bleeding profusely.

"The students told me Nkosikhona was going from one classroom to another for a pencil when he was shot," he said.

Khumalo said he rushed Nkosikhona to hospital. Doctors tried to resuscitate him but he died 20 minutes later.

Some children told a police officer at the scene that the suspect was about 35 metres away on the steps near the toilets and fired the shot at Nkosikhona, who was walking towards the playground. He was shot in the back and the bullet exited through his chest.

According to the mother of the suspect, he was playing soccer with a group of friends, including Nkosikhona, on Tuesday when he was given a gun to keep. She said that after the shooting her son told her he was playing with the gun and cocked it, without realising there was a bullet in the chamber. A shot was then fired.

'I've been hit'

"Nkosikhona shouted, 'I've been hit', and my son ran to him to see where he had been shot. My son asked me to take him to the police station, where he was detained. It was a mistake," she said, adding that the two families are friends.

Nkosikhona's grandmother, Hannah Luvuno, 76, said Nkosikhona lived with her and was a very quiet, obedient boy. "I wasn't expecting something like this to happen in school," she said. She said Nkosikhona played soccer for the Mighty Rookers and was a good goalkeeper.

Asked how a pupil could bring a gun to school, Khumalo said teachers are not permitted to search pupils. "We are going to report the matter to the governing body and they will have to decide what they want to do. We are concerned about the safety of the other children in the school," he said.

Education Department spokesperson Muzi Khubeka said the department regrets the shooting but is still waiting for a report from the school.

Khubeka said the Bill of Rights contains a clause prohibiting the searching of pupils at schools. He urged the pupils and the community to be calm.

Education Minister Kader Asmal has recently declared schools gun-free zones, saying schools are turning into war zones.

In other incidents of violence at local schools, in 1999 a grade 11 pupil at Raisethorpe High School was stabbed by two youths inside the school. The suspects were caught.

Last November, a 14-year-old Howick West Secondary School pupil was stabbed twice in the arm by a fellow pupil in retaliation after the boy intervened in a fight.

- The Witness