By Naledi Ngqambela
South Africa has been experiencing a sharp increase of violence and crime in our communities and schools. This has led to pupils witnessing and experiencing such acts of violent behaviour in their institutions of learning or on their way there. The violence experienced in schools not only stops with the pupils, however, schools are rapidly and increasingly becoming arenas of violence for educators and teachers, interschool rivalries as well as gang conflict.
School violence is not only limited to assault among pupils, but violence also manifests as bullying, abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation, psychological violence, as well as repeated and intentional aggression towards another person. It can also be classified as behaviour that is uncivil, peace disturbing, forceful and unruly.
The media has been inundated with reports of violence and attacks in schools, with learners fighting amongst themselves or with their teachers. The reports indicates the extent of violence in our country, being quite evident that South Africa is a violent country. There is a serious problem of violence in schools. The issue associated with school violence paints a bleak picture of violence, crime and abuse in this country. It is unfortunate how this scourge of violence finds its way to schools, while such behaviour affects how pupils concentrate at school, leaving them traumatised, violated, performing poorly and at times, with deep levels of depression. School violence in media reports demonstrates that the scourge of violence in schools has also reached an alarming unparalleled proportion.
As I write this article, I reflect and think of the numerous violence incidents of students fighting, stabbing and bullying each other. In the latest incident, the controversial religious leader, Paseka Motsoeneng, famously known as Pastor Mboro, as witnessed on a video that went viral on social media of Mboro forcefully entering a school in Katlehong with a machete and pangas, as well as his security guard carrying guns.
The video showed an outraged man, with little remorse, emotion, consideration as well as the impact of his actions towards the school teachers, community and most importantly the learners of the school and his grandchildren. In the video, Mboro is seen forcefully dragging, continuously the children towards him without any care in the world. A man of his stature — who is a religious leader and pastor are deemed to be leaders who provide pastoral care and ensure the spiritual wellbeing of their church members and community at large. However, Mboro displayed the opposite, inflicting pain and trauma.
Despite the reason, such acts of violence makes me wonder what kind of leader is Mboro? Such violent, unruly, bully behaviour should never be acceptable and welcome at any level of our society, no matter who you are too.
Crime and violence permeates our communities, neighbourhoods and in our homes. As witnessed over the years, it has also permeated in environments of our schools, with statistics attesting to this. The South African Council of Educators reported in 2020 that at least 49% of learners reported experiencing or witnessing physical violence at their schools. While 68% of teachers experience the same. This is one in thousands of studies conducted on school violence in South Africa. Such statistics suggest that South Africa has a violent society.
Such horrendous conduct is one of many in our schools, with learners experiencing violence from the community, parents or guardians, but are not being reported, or receiving any media attention. Writing about this, makes me wonder how have these incidents been dealt with? And how have the continuous acts of such violence and abuse to children by parents truly affected and impacted their lives in the long run?
I am of the view that Mboro may be successfully facing the might of the law solely because of the nature of person he is in society and the public domain — a well-known pastor and leader of the Incredible Happenings Church who is regarded a man of God who leads, takes care of his people with compassion, consideration, humanity and grace.
What surprised me though, was how the congregation rallied and supported the pastor and completely disregarded the violent approach Mboro used to take care of the situation he was dealing with at the time. The children were terrified, screaming with trauma. Does this not matter? What has happened to churches holding their leaders accountable for their actions? Unfortunately, that was a shameful act by the congregation. It is such support and rallying behind any kind of leader that perpetuates such violent behaviour, poor accountability and poor handling of such incidents in our society.
The incident was horrible and scary to watch, and it is difficult to imagine how terrified, traumatised and scared the children who witnessed it must have been after the scene.
The idea of schools being respected and seen as safe spaces where learners are able to interact and learning peacefully is at the forefront, is gradually being eroded because schools have increasingly become places where violence erupts easily, bullying and probably one of the most unsafe.
The horrific attacks by Mboro of swinging pangas and threatening people at the school for protection, is surely contravening the laws of our country of safety for pupils in schools. Such actions affect children in many ways than one, it not only disrupts or affects their feeling of being safe at school, but it impacts severely on their ability to continue learning and developing themselves as they should in a school environment.
In this case, the incident further incited violence in the community where his church was torched causing further damage and disruption in the community. If school safety reforms are not prioritised expeditiously, the problem of violence and no sense of urgency for law and order will continue without fail, spreading across and creating more harm.
Following this widely shocking violent crime by Mboro, it is critical that we use a multisectoral approach to find new ways and mechanisms to strengthen policies on school safety. This can include but not be limited to continuous advocacy work, policy amendments as time also changes with the need for policies that resonate and correlate with such changes is important, as well as continuous efforts to act against violence and other forms of crimes or abuse in schools regardless of the stature of individual in society.
It is also critical for the Department of Basic Education to put great emphasis on ways they will use to restore confidence in parents, guardians and communities to curb any other incident such as this from happening in future, in any school, particularly in the township.
Mboro is not above the law and the full might of the law should take its course.
* Naledi Ngqambela is a writer and a researcher.
** The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of IOL or Independent Media.