The South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) has renewed its call for safety at schools to be bolstered. This follows yet another shooting at a Cape Town school. This time, suspects opened fire on Ekuthuleni Primary School Principal, Jeffrey Sigudla and his wife. The couple stopped their vehicle at the entrance of the learning institution, on Thursday, when the gun attack happened. Sigudla died at the scene. His widow was shot in her leg and transported to a medical facility.
It’s understood the woman had intended to drop her husband at the school. The motive for the killing is being investigated, with no arrests at this stage. Police are focusing their search on three suspects who sped away after launching their attack on the pair.
Less than half an hour later, another shooting occurred at a primary school in the same community. In that incident, a 41-year-old man was gunned down at the Fanie Theron Primary School in Kort Street, Windsor Park which is situated less than seven kilometers away.
“The 41-year-old driver of a white Hyundai vehicle left an institute of learning when an unidentified suspect approached the vehicle and fired several gunshots at the vehicle. The driver lost control of the vehicle and went through a fence. SAPS members on duty attended the scene and found the driver with numerous gunshot wounds to his body. He was declared deceased on the scene by medical personnel. The suspect fled the scene in an unidentified vehicle,” confirmed Western Cape police spokesperson Frederick van Wyk.
SADTU secretary Sibongile Kwazi has told Smile 90.4 FM that the increased violence at schools should be brought to an end.
“We’ve called on the Western Cape Education Department to provide security guards for schools, but as we all know under the financial situation that could not be accomplished. They do provide this at some schools that are regarded as hot spot areas, but in this particular case, even if we had security guards it wouldn’t really have helped,” Kwazi reckoned.
She said the onus is on the South African Police Services (SAPS) to safeguard places of learning.
“As SADTU, we are calling on the police now and the Department of Police Oversight and Community Safety to provide policing around schools, before the start of the school day. There must be visible policing from 06:30 and later in the afternoon,” Kwazi said.
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