Two unexplained fires in two weeks in the same dormitory at Gamble Street High School – which mimicked another fire in August 2018 – have sparked fears of arson at the Uitenhage school.
The mysterious blazes have also fuelled fear-mongering among pupils at the girls’ hostel, with “black magic” blamed for the fires.
Police spokesperson Captain Gerda Swart said a case of arson was being investigated in connection with the latest incident on Friday.
The previous fire occurred on February 12.
Swart said the latest fire started at about 10am on the second floor of the girls’ hostel in a locker shared by five pupils.
The cause of the fire was unknown at this stage.
School governing body chair Keith Potgieter said the situation was already having an adverse effect on the hostel’s 85 female pupils, half of whom were not at school on Monday.
“We had to send the pupils home on Friday,” he said.
“The police forensics team inspected the hostel and informed us that it was not safe to house pupils there until a health and safety inspector approved it.
“As a result, only about 40 of the hostel girls pitched for school today [Monday].
“They are in the process of writing controlled tests for their first-term results and this situation is obviously affecting their studies.”
Potgieter said the school was looking for temporary accommodation in Uitenhage for the pupils until the department of education had sent a team to inspect the building.
“We notified the department as soon as it happened, but we are waiting for [education officials] to say we can either move the kids back or the building is condemned.
“But there seems to be no sense of urgency from them.”
Potgieter said the February fire happened at about 2am, in the same dormitory in a locked locker on the second floor of the hostel, forcing the pupils to be evacuated at about 7.05am.
On August 9, pupils had to be evacuated after a fire broke out in the same dormitory.
The cause of both fires is also still unknown.
Hostel head matron Patricia Bruiners said she expected the number of absent pupils to rise as the week progressed.
“Most, if not all, of the pupils at the school are from impoverished homes.
“They can’t afford to pay R100 a day for taxis from Addo, as they are being forced to do now,” she said.
“All of the girls are quiet about what happened – they say they were all in classes at that time.
“They blame the whole thing on black magic of some sort.
“I don’t know what happened, but it is very weird to have three fires happen in the same place in a similar way.”
In 2010, the boys’ hostel at the school was condemned and senior staff there foresee a similar fate for the girls’ hostel.
“That building is truly becoming life-threatening to those living in it,” Potgieter said.
“The biggest problem is that we lost those [male] pupils after the hostel closed because they couldn’t afford to travel to and from school.
“And the same is going to happen here.
“Those pupils don’t end up in schools elsewhere, they end up looking for work or, worse, [committing] crime.
“The department is playing with the future of these pupils.”
Provincial education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said the department was aware of the situation and was attending to it.
“At the meeting held at the school, the decision was taken for the safety of our learners to release them for the weekend.
“We requested the [police forensics unit] to investigate because this is the second fire in two weeks,” Mtima said.
He did not respond to questions about plans for temporary pupil accommodation, repairs to the building and controls to avoid another incident.
Swart confirmed all of the fires and said a case of arson was being investigated.