The Eastern Cape MEC for Education, Fundile Gade, confirmed that the Department of Education will work hard with other governmental stakeholders to ensure that the incident which happened at Mgezwa Senior Secondary School in Lusikisiki, where three teachers who were leaving Grade 12 evening classes on May 11, were attacked and by a gunman, does not happen again.
Gade visited the school and the home of one educator, Aphiwe Qaba (27) who died in this tragedy, yesterday.
The aim of the visit was to update teachers, learners, and family members on the security measures undertaken to ensure safety for all and to give love and support to Qaba’s family.
Qaba was travelling with colleagues when the gunman opened fire on them when they were approaching an area where the road had been affected by the recent heavy rains, which necessitated reduction on the speed of the car.
The driver of the car tried to escape, and the gunman allegedly tried to catch up with them, while still firing his gun.
The teachers finally managed to escape and rushed to St Elizabeth Hospital to seek medical assistance.
Qaba was transferred to Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital, where he passed away on the morning of May 12.
Gade said they were taking this matter seriously because this could lead to more deaths in the society.
“People might suspect each other and start taking revenge.
“Secondly, the teachers might end up refusing to take responsibility for the learners, stating that they were not even paid for doing evening classes. They were only doing this to improve the matric results, just to get the best results,” said Gade.
He added that, as the department and other stakeholders, they would make sure that all the teachers and learners were safe.
“Let us trust the cops that they would do their job and arrest the suspects. We are happy that there are some leads that are being followed which could lead to an arrest.
“I am worried because most of the good matric results come (as a result of) these evening classes. So, we have to make sure that their safety comes first.”
The chairperson for school governing body (SGB), Sonwabo Ndabeni said they were shocked about this incident. He said this was the first incident to happen in their school.
“The teachers are very worried about this and their safety because they don’t know what would happen next. We are going to meet with all the stakeholders and discuss the way forward to end crime in this area.
