QONCE – A Grade 8 learner died after a stabbing at a high school in Dimbaza, just outside Qonce, at about 12:00 on Tuesday, 15 September, and police have since opened a murder docket.

SAPS spokesperson Captain Mluleki Mbi said that according to the report, it is alleged that the deceased was sitting in his classroom when the suspect, also a 16-year-old Grade 10 learner, came to the window with his friends and started mocking him.

“They started mocking him by calling him a boy and punches were exchanged in what seemed to be a joke in the beginning,” she said.

Mbi added that it was said that the suspect then came into the classroom with his friends and asked one of them to give him a pen as he claimed to have been stabbed with a pen by the deceased.

“The friend gave him an okapi knife instead, which was when the suspect stabbed the deceased in the chest.”

Upon realising that he was bleeding, Mbi said they took the injured learner to the staff room and he was rushed to the nearest clinic, where he was declared dead on arrival.

“Both the deceased and suspect come from the same location,” she said. “The suspect was arrested and charged with murder.”

The Eastern Cape Department of Education Head of Department, Sharon Maasdorp, condemns the stabbing of a Kuyasa High School Grade 8 learner by a fellow Grade 10 learner.

“This incident took place inside the school premises just after the morning prayer session, although the deceased passed away upon arrival at the hospital,” she said.

According to Maasdorp, this unfortunate incident of a learner dying owing to a weapon, a knife, inside the school calls for tightening of the partnership between schools and parents.

“I urge guardians to make it a habit to search school bags to avoid incidents of this nature. Let’s all work together to make our schools safe havens for teaching and learning,” urged Maasdorp.

Upon learning about this, the district allegedly dispatched a team of managers with a psychosocial support team. “The psychosocial team will provide all the affected learners with trauma counselling and debriefing,” she said.

Maasdorp added that the parents of the deceased learner and the SGB have been informed of this gruesome incident. “Additionally, the learner [suspect] has been suspended, and the matter was also reported to the Dimbaza SAPS station.”

The HoD sent condolences from the sector to the bereaved family.

The suspect appeared before the Dimbaza Magistrate’s Court today, 16 September, where the matter was postponed until Friday, 18 September for legal representation of the accused and a preliminary investigation, as he is a minor.

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