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Schoolgirl race-brawl scandal
11/10/2006 23:30 - (SA)
Mariska Spoormaker, Die Burger
Port Elizabeth - For sale: A cellphone video for R5 of a fight between two Grade 11 schoolgirls.
To top it all, the fight between two pupils from Westering High School was filmed in three "chapters".
The first shows the fight starting in the classroom; the second shows how it moves outside.
The third shows one of the girls running away, but being chased and grabbed by her opponent.
Each "chapter" costs R5 and, as soon as those who have seen it wants to view it again, it's forwarded from one cellphone to the next at a total cost of R15.
Die Burger was told by a source, who asked to remain anonymous, that the fight sequence was selling like hot cakes.
Insults like "You fucking bitch!" can be heard, but even more worrying is that other pupils kept egging on the fighting girls.
Feud has racial overtones
The source said: "We could hear clearly: "Moer haar! Moer haar!"
Die Burger's source said some of the children who tried to get the two girls to stop, were told by other pupils to get out of the way, because they were filming the fight.
The source said the feud between the two girls - the one white and the other coloured - had been in the offing for quite a while and it had racial overtones.
School principal Stuart Hayward apparently tried to pour oil on the troubled waters between the two girls in his office.
Despite this, the fight took place shortly before the October holidays.
Hayward was taken aback when he heard some of the pupils had filmed the fight on their cellphones and that it was for sale.
"I think it's absolutely shocking. I didn't think some pupils would sink so low.
"The entire school will be addressed about this incident. Strict action regarding cellphone use at the school will definitely be taken and parents will be informed."
Something that worried him was the ongoing damage that could be caused by the cellphone videos.
The tension between the two girls could have been defused by counselling and talking, but the videos of their fight were in circulation.
An upset Hayward said: "We're trying to move forward, but are being held back by this."
His concern was underscored by another cellphone video of a fight between pupils at Alexander Road High School in Newton Park.
The fight took place months ago, but the videoclip was still in circulation.
That video started with two boys getting involved in an exchange of words, but it moved to a quad in the school and several other pupils also got involved.
It was obvious in this video how watching pupils egged on the fighting teenagers.
Cellphone ban is being mooted
It was reported in September that the misuse of cellphones by pupils could result in a ban in schools.
Legal experts in education said such a decision was not far-fetched, but others thought it was a child's right to have a cellphone.
The regional manager of the education department in Port Elizabeth, Sam Snayer, told Die Burger earlier that it was a parent's decision, in consultation with the school, to ban cellphones.
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