Table View High School learners fight 'over a packet of chips'
Cape Town - A Table View High School learner was suspended, and three others face a disciplinary hearing after a fight allegedly over a packet of chips.
A video of the fight was shared on social media, showing a pupil being punched and holding his hands around his head defensively while he tries to twist away.
The video stops as the other pupil aims a kick at the pupil on the ground, with other pupils not intervening for the duration of the clip, while one standing close by, had his hands in his pocket.
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the incident happened last Thursday.
Hammond said two learners got into a fight, allegedly over a packet of chips. Another learner intervened to break up the fight and was assaulted.
"A second altercation happened after the school had been dismissed, which was caught on camera. The altercation happened between the learner who originally intervened and another learner who had been in the altercation earlier that day," said Hammond.
She said three learners would face a disciplinary hearing.
She said the alleged victim in the video was not facing disciplinary action, but has been called as a witness. The other learner in the video has been temporarily suspended.
"The school is dealing with the matter competently in terms of their disciplinary processes and has already conducted a mediation meeting between all learners involved, to which they all apologised for their roles in the altercations. Trauma counselling has also been arranged for the alleged victim."
ANC provincial spokesperson on education Khalid Sayed said he was disgusted by such bully tactics that still occur too often.
"This is a serious matter, and the suspects must be disciplined properly," said Sayed.
He commended the school for rapidly taking steps to send out a strong message against bullying and said he would follow the process with interest.
EFF Provincial chairperson Melikhaya Xego called for Education MEC Debbie Schafer to investigate the circumstances that led to a physical confrontation that occurred between two learners (black and white).
Xego said the party noted the video that was currently making rounds on social media where those two learners were seen fighting.
"It has also been brought to our attention that the genesis of this fight between these two learners started when a group of white learners took a mobile phone of the black learner against his will," said Xego.
He said, later on, the cover of the phone was then later found in the school blazer of one of the white learners.
"When the black learner sought to get his phone back from the white learner from whom the phone cover was found, the white learner only gave him the bus ticket that he had on his phone before it was taken," he said.
Xego added that subsequent to this and on their way home from school, the black learner insisted on getting his phone back from the white learner, and that is when the fight broke out.
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