TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
The fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old Founder High School pupil by a fellow student from nearby Hamilton High School in a gang war has sent shock waves throughout Bulawayo and has opened a lid on violence that is rearing its ugly head in different schools countrywide.
Violence in schools has reared its ugly head in the last weeks that started with a leaked video of Cranborne High School students attacking two students from Churchill High School.
While gang violence has hit hard on schools, it is the Bulawayo incident that has jolted authorities into action and panic.
The family of the now deceased is still in shock.
Nomatter Ndlovu, mother of the now deceased teenager, Wayne Ndlovu, said there is suspicion gang violence in schools has been going on for some time now.
“Disciplining the boys is a way but it also means closing that school,” she said. “I don’t know but it seems this thing has been going on for some time and it has come to this.”
“I am in pain, I am bitter. I just feel they just have to do something about the school,” she added.
Ndlovu described her son as an intelligent boy who had big ambitions in life.
“He was an intelligent child, very bright, and could easily adjust to any kind of situation. He did not discriminate against anyone and loved sport and school. He actually wanted to be a doctor in life and that is why he was studying sciences.”
“Now that things have gone this way. We don’t know what we are going to do about his shattered dreams. We were actually imagining him as a practicing doctor assisting the community. I don’t know what was happening,” she said.
In 2018 , a form three pupil at Founders High School died during suspected teenage gang violence after an alcohol binge and his assailants dumped his body in a bushy area near Nketa High School in Nketa 8 high density suburb.
Bulawayo deputy police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele said school going children should not carry out weapons.
“We are concerned over violence involving school children and carrying dangerous weapons,” she said.
“It is not expected that learners go around carrying weapons like screwdrivers, knives and catapults among other sharp objects. Some of the schools where gang violence is recorded include Milton High School, Gifford High School, Hamilton High School, Founders High School, Msiteli High School to mention but a few,” she said.
“We therefore urge school authorities to monitor learners and strengthen anti-bullying mechanisms and parents should take interest in the behaviour of their children.”
She narrated how Wayne got into a fight with the two accused persons.
“On 13 February 2023 at around 1700 hours, the now deceased was with his friends at the corner Plumtree Road and Stratford Road, Southwold on their way from school. The now deceased approached the accused persons to enquire why he assaulted his friend. A fight ensued between the now deceased and the two accused persons. Other students attempted to stop the fight and the two accused persons ran away,” she said.
She said the now deceased was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
“One of the students saw the now deceased bleeding from the neck and he stated that the accused person had stabbed him with an unknown object. He removed his blazer to cover the wound in order to stop bleeding. With the help of other students, a police report was made and the boy was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital,” she said.
Bulawayo has been witnessing gang fights among schoolboys both in the eastern and western suburbs. Sporadic fights have also been recorded in the city centre pitting particularly boys from Milton and Gifford High Schools.
Officials from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education on Wednesday visited the family.
Bulawayo provincial deputy director Thabani Sibanda said : “We came to sympathise with the family for what happened on Monday unexpectedly. We lost a young soul so we are mourning with the Ndlovu family. We are hoping that Wayne will be buried on Friday. We will not allow violence in and out of schools as a ministry.”
