An alleged turf war over the sale of drugs turned Esiqongweni Secondary School in Imbali Unit 13 into a battle ground when a fight between two groups of pupils broke out on Wednesday.
Three pupils from the school who were injured during the fight were taken to hospital. One of the three pupils was stabbed and is said to have been seriously injured.
The fight is believed to have started on Tuesday and continued again on Wednesday, when people who are not pupils at Esiqongweni School joined in.
It is alleged that those fighting had armed themselves with golf clubs, knives and even firearms and chased each other around inside the school premises.
According to a source who was also part of the fight and was assaulted with a golf club the fight is over territories to sell drugs at the school. He said he had gone to the school to support his friends who were assaulted on Tuesday.
I do not attend Esiqongweni but I went to back up my friends who were assaulted yesterday [Tuesday]. The fight started outside the school gate and we never expected that there would be other older people with weapons and guns during the fight. That is why we ended up running inside the school because they were pulling out firearms and knives.
“They attacked me with a golf stick, hitting me on my ribs, but I managed to escape. I had to hide until the situation was calm because I was scared that they would kill me if they found me,” he said.
Parents
One of the parents, who lives near the school, said she heard a big commotion and decided to check what was happening. She described the whole incident as a “movie scene”.
They were beating each other with golf sticks, some had knives and others had firearms. Two pupils were injured after being beaten and one was stabbed. It was like a movie; other pupils started running and they had to jump over the school fence while others went to hide. The children were screaming while trying to escape by jumping the school fence.
When the publication visited the school, pupils were still standing in small groups on the road next to the school, while others were inside the school premises.
Concerned parents were also seen coming into the school.
SGB
School governing body chairperson Lungile Nquku said the school principal informed her about what had happened but she had not met with him personally to get all the details.
“From what I have heard, it is so painful that the fight that started outside the school ended up inside the school. This could turn into faction fights and affect teaching and learning at the school. We are still going to meet with the school principal and discuss a way forward in dealing with this matter.”
Ward councilor Mphilisi Ndlovu said one of the pupils was severely injured to a point that he could not even walk. He said the fight started outside the school and eventually ended inside the school.
“There were individuals who had guns with them; we are not sure if they were real, but they were chasing other children with them. It is so sad that something like this happened in a school. We are planning to meet with the two groups and school principal to try and resolve it before it gets worse. We want to know where this is coming from. We do not want to see more people getting injured. We are going to try and get to the bottom of this,” he said.
Department of Education
KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said the use and sale of drugs is a big problem in KwaZulu-Natal schools and is getting worse with pupils fighting over territory in which to sell drugs.
They are supposed to be fighting for positions in academics not this. This is a societal matter that is worrying us as the education department. More so, we have no control over it because it now involves members of the community and if you ask them, they know who the kingpins are but nothing is being done.
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