No arrest in school intimidation case yet

2012-09-08 20:15

No arrest has been made since the Democratic Alliance laid criminal charges against those preventing pupils from attending Northern Cape schools. (File, Shutterstock)

Johannesburg - No arrest has been made since the Democratic Alliance laid criminal charges against those preventing pupils from attending Northern Cape schools, Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille said on Saturday.

"We demand that those behind the organised intimidation of school-children be arrested immediately," she said in a statement.

"Where the police force is failing to ensure the constitutional right to safety and dignity for so many, then a provincial government must act decisively."

The case was opened at the Transvaal Road police station in Kimberley on Thursday, according to the Sunday Times.

A total of 41 of the 65 schools in the Johan Taolo Gaetsewe district municipality, which includes Kuruman, have been closed since June because of residents intimidating children. Locals had been protesting over a lack of tarred roads in the municipality.

An 18-page report, compiled by an education task team, was handed to Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on the situation last Monday.

De Lille claimed that three schools had been burnt down.

She said hundreds of learners were relocated to an army camp and others to a secure location.

- SAPA