Stabbing interrupts school inspection in gang-ridden Eldorado Park

A pupil was stabbed by an intruder at Johannesburg's Eldorado Park Secondary School on Tuesday while members of the provincial legislature were on an unannounced visit to assess the effectiveness of school safety interventions.

“The pupil was allegedly stabbed by an illegal intruder who fled the scene after the incident,” said the Gauteng legislature’s portfolio committees on community safety and education.

The pupil was taken to a nearby healthcare facility for treatment.

During the visit, committee members were shown knives that had been confiscated from pupils. They were told a pupil had brought a gun to school the previous day.

The attack resulted in the MPLs having to halt their meeting with the principal and school management team as part of their work on developing a focused intervention study on ways to combat violence at schools.

Community safety committee chair Bandile Masuku said the dramatic inspection highlights the scourge of violence and criminality that exists in some Gauteng schools, amplifying the need for the study.

“Shocking incidents like these cannot be left unattended as they are not isolated cases and need urgent interventions by government and civil society,” he said.

A stakeholder engagement session bringing experts together to come up with recommendations that will form part of a consolidated report for tabling at the legislature will be hosted by the committees on August 31.

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