One of the pupils, who was stabbed during a Mitchells Plain high school brawl last week, says it was “a race battle” and he fears going back.
Siyanda Mabongo, 16, from Brown’s Farm in Philippi has been attending Lentegeur High School since Grade 8 and was stabbed by a fellow pupil on Monday morning.
The boy was stabbed seven times and his mother says he is lucky to be alive.
“On Monday morning as I was coming through the gates a coloured boy called me nicely and hugged me around my neck,” says Siyanda.
“Another boy asked why I chased his friend on Friday. I told them I was there, but it wasn’t me. The boy’s brother is a prefect and responded rudely and I said: ‘keep quiet, you weren’t even there”.
“He must not have liked that and in a split second, I didn’t even see the scissor, he attacked me as I was walking away.”
The teen sustained seven stab wounds and was stabbed in the head, three times in the neck, behind his ear, next to the kidney and next to the spinal cord.
WORRY: Mom Sivuyisiwe
Two teachers rushed with him to hospital.
“It was a big fight with coloureds versus blacks, it’s true, it was a race battle. They pick on us, take our money or tax us and they’re about five or six boys who are JFK gangsters.”
Although he wants to go back to school to write exams next week, Siyanda says he is scared and wants to change schools.
His mother, Sivuyisiwe Mabondo, 46, says she wants the Western Cape Education Department to expel the boys who nearly killed her son.
“I am worried about my son and his safety, that’s why I filed charges with police,” she says.
Police spokesperson, Captain FC van Wyk, confirmed: “A case of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm (GBH) was opened at Lentegeur SAPS.
“No arrests have been made as yet and the case is under investigation.”
WECD spokesperson, Jessica Shelver, says the matter is being investigated and will only know today whether the attackers had been suspended or not.
robin.francke@inl.co.za