SHOTS FIRED AS VELEBANTFU PUPILS RIOT OVER LATE HOURS

LUQOLWENI – Police allegedly fired warning shots to disperse a rowdy crowd of pupils at Velebantfu High School yesterday morning, who raised their voices against being kept at the school until late.

The pupils fear that knocking off late may put their lives in danger due to the prevalent kidnappings in the country, which are believed to be linked to ritual murders allegedly perpetrated by ambitious people seeking political office.
“It is winter now and it gets dark very early. Elections are approaching, so our safety is not guaranteed,” read a statement of grievances by the pupils.

The school is situated at Luqolweni, which is about 28km South-East of Hlatikhulu in the Shiselweni region.
The men in blue were called in to calm the situation after the youngsters boycotted classes and locked all gates leading to the school, accusing the administration of starving them on Fridays and keeping them at the school until late, among many grievances.

 Sources close to the matter said the locking of the school gates was done overnight, with padlocks that were allegedly purchased by the pupils themselves.

Barred

Yesterday, just before 7am, a group of pupils barred others from walking in and forced them to join in the protest.
Teachers who were in their houses at the time reportedly heard some noise coming from the direction of the main entrance. When they later peeped through windows to ascertain what was going on, they saw the pupils demonstrating while hoisting placards.

Eyewitnesses said the pupils were singing protest songs, and also vowed not to attend any lesson until their issues were addressed.
The witnesses mentioned that the pupils also barricaded the road leading to the school.
At some point, they are alleged to have pelted a car belonging to one of the teachers with stones, which slightly got damaged in the process.

This was after the teacher had volunteered to go and pick the school’s head teacher Clement Khumalo, who had just alighted from a kombi at a bus station, not far away from the site of the protesting pupils.
No person was injured from that incident, according to authorities. However, at that juncture, police were called in to calm the situation as the pupils were apparently turning chaotic.

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