A principal (49) from Maclear was arrested and briefly appeared before the Ugie Magistrate’s Court today after he allegedly forced a pupil (11) to fetch his missing cell phone from a pit toilet.
According to Provincial Police Spokesperson, Captain
Khaya Tonjeni, the accused was charged with attempted murder.
Tonjeni further said the principal from the Luthuthu Junior Secondary School, Lubeko Mgandela, allegedly made the pupil undress himself and then sent him into the pit toilet, filled with human faeces.
“The child
was allegedly tied with a rope to the upper body and lowered in the pit toilet by other leaners in an effort to retrieve a cell phone that fell into the pit
latrine,” said Tonjeni.
MEC for Department of
Education, Fundile Gade, confirmed in his statement that the Principal of the school in Ugie was served with a letter of suspension pending
investigation on the matter.
“We have dispatched our Labour Relations
officials to investigate the matter with tight and strict deadlines for a
report back.
“In the process of
reconstructing the province, it is becoming clear that we have to be firm and
unapologetic in taking decisions. It is beyond disgrace that such an incident
of inhumanity can be claimed against a school principal who we view as a parent
and a mentor to everyone in that community,” Gade said.
