Sword killing shocks MEC

2008-08-19 13:09

Johannesburg - Gauteng education MEC Angie Motshekga was "taken aback" at the killing of a Grade Nine pupil at Nic Diederichs Technical High School, in Krugersdorp, she told pupils and staff on Tuesday.

"This is traumatic. Parents leave their children with us in schools and expect to find them in one piece," she told an assembly in the school hall.

Motshekga arrived at the school under heavy police guard on Tuesday morning, passing through its main gate where mourners had laid tributes to16-year-old Jacques Pretorius, who was slain by a sword-wielding fellow pupil.

"As learners you do not want to lose one of your own," she told them.

The MEC assured pupils that they were of great value to the nation and hoped the trauma counselling they were receiving on Tuesday would help them.

Motshekga said she would be meeting with Pretorius's parents to offer her support.

She would also meet the parents of his alleged killer, a matric pupil at the school. He is scheduled to appear in the Krugersdorp Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

Trauma counselling

Scores of journalists, photographers and cameramen were locked outside the school, west of Johannesburg, while teachers and pupils received trauma counselling inside

At the school's gates, placards were set up in a wall of remembrance to slain 16-year-old Jacques Pretorius.

Flowers with messages, most of them religious, were also laid outside the gate at the main entrance to the school.

One stated: "Jacques, everything happens with a purpose and is part of God's plan. It is with him where you will find rest, as you sit with him at his table."

- SAPA