Slain Kayamandi vice-palie's son: 'There was blood all over the place'

WITH his father’s blood still flowing freely at Kayamandi Primary School, a grieving son found himself doing something no family should ever have to do — scrubbing the spot where his father had been shot and left to die only hours earlier.

And as he mopped the ground where deputy principal Mlamli Matshingana, 54, had fallen, he said it felt unreal to be wiping away the last traces of the man who had raised him and inspired him to become an educator.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg said Matshingana was shot at about 1.30pm on November 21 2025 and that the suspects were being sought.

He said the motive would form part of the investigation.

Western Cape education spokeswoman Bronagh Hammond said the department had provided counselling and trauma support teams.

His son, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, told IOL they were shown the exact spot where his father died, while sitting under a tree.

“We went to the school to clean the blood, and we were shown where he was shot,” he said.

“There was blood all over the place, underneath the only tree near the gate.

"That was where he had been sitting with a colleague and another person who had left before the shooting.”

The family, he said, has been told the gunman walked into the school, approached staff sitting outside, and shot at random.

“We didn’t speak to colleagues or learners about him because we don’t know what actually happened before the shooting,” he said.

"According to what we heard, the person who shot him came into the school, found him sitting outside with colleagues, randomly picked someone who was sitting there, and shot him."

Matshingana became deputy principal at Kayamandi Primary around 2022, his son said.

In the early 2000s, he was a curriculum adviser in isiXhosa and wrote books linked to his language work.

“As a person, he was very kind, very polite, and a good storyteller,” his son said.

“He was fascinated with language, especially isiXhosa, because he did some editing work.

"He motivated a lot of academics. I think he loved school more than anything because, after Covid-19, he returned to work at a school for the first time since around 1999 or 2000.

"He enjoyed the school environment and he loved children.”

He said he was an educator because of him.