By Hendrick Makaneta
The last week of January 2023 was characterised by many events.
Just as the president was addressing delegates at the basic education sector lekgotla which was held in Sandton Convention centre, a learner was fighting for his life in Alexandra township after being stabbed by a fellow learner.
A week before this terrifying incident, another learner had been killed by a fellow learner at another school in Gauteng province.
Two weeks after the adjournment of the lekgotla, a teacher at a school was stabbed by an intruder who demanded to see the principal by holding teachers hostage.
The stabbed teacher retaliated by shooting the victim. All these happened at school in the presence of learners and teachers.
As usual the Gauteng Department of Education issued a media statement and the MEC, Matome Chiloane, promised that learners and teachers would receive psycho-social support.
The endless murders of teachers and learners in the terrain of education do no longer come as a surprise.
Steadily but surely, society is now getting used to the violence at school level and if something drastic is not done, sooner or later the violence will become part of the DNA of the South African society where society will find it unusual to exist without one form of violence or another.
Those who have studied pedagogy will tell you that at the foundation level, learners learn by seeing.
The recent killing of artist Kiernan Forbes known as AKA and the footage that went viral on social media, coupled with bombings of cash-in-transit vehicles, not to mention cases of abductions and human trafficking, all of which are readily available for the youth and the school children to watch on every social media page, strengthen my assertion that sooner or later, we will be forced to accept that South Africa is a highly violent society which cannot redeem itself.
More recently in Limpopo province, a Nigerian national was arrested for selling drugs to school children near Flora Park.
As if our problems as a country are not enough, some 22 Afghan nationals who are on the run from the Taliban, arrived at one of our border posts, seeking asylum. If their application for asylum is granted, it could mean that at any time we may become a target of the Taliban forces, further polarising the already volatile situation we find ourselves in.
Perhaps we need to applaud our Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi for putting the country first by rejecting the asylum seekers.
In 1994 the challenges that faced South Africa was poverty, unemployment and inequality. But lately everyone agrees that crime also tops the other challenges. The reality is that school violence cannot be eradicated if violent crimes that affect communities remain unattended.
There is a link between crimes that are committed in schools and those that are done in communities. The guy who sells drugs at school obviously comes from the community. The learner who stabs another learner, got his or her knife from the community.
Government must take a conscious decision to manage safety of learners by installing cameras in school premises. Security must be tightened at all levels. It cannot be correct that there are still schools which do not have proper fencing. No person should be allowed to enter a school without a valid Identity document. We need biometric systems that users can rely on to enter school premises. Parents and teachers must be registered on the system.
Of importance is the culture of schools. We need to inculcate the right culture that promotes ubuntu and respect amongst the learners. Respect for teachers must be strictly enforced. Learners need to be taken to task if they fail to adhere to school policies. Discipline must be enforced very strictly and without favour. In most instances schools that experience high levels of violence are those that tolerate ill-discipline amongst its learners and staff.
We owe it to humanity to act and to act now. Someone suggested that perhaps guns should also have tracking devices, so that users can be monitored with a view to protect citizens. I think the suggestion makes sense. But to qualify the suggestion, I think Statistics South Africa must find a way to count the number of guns in the country. Stats SA must tell us, how many guns are in the country and how many are legal or illegal.
This week another incident rocked our school after a man and a woman were shot outside Bedfordview nursery school, moments after dropping off their child.
Guns in South Africa are the single biggest cause of instability and violent murders.
We therefore call on leaders in government to prioritise safety, not only in schools but also in communities.
* Makaneta is an education activist completing an LLB degree at the University of Pretoria.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Independent Media or IOL.