Classes at Northbury Park High School in KwaZulu-Natal have been temporarily suspended after a grade 10 learner set a car alight in the parking lot.
The vehicle set alight belongs to the Acting Deputy Principal and it is alleged that the learner was reprimanded for carrying a phone in school and the phone was confiscated.
Kwazi Mthethwa, the department’s spokesperson, on Wednesday said a video of the incident had been brought to the department’s attention.
“We condemn this barbaric act. I have just spoken to the district director who will visit the school on Thursday morning to address the matter,” said Mthethwa.
“His phone was confiscated and put in a safe place,” said Mthethwa.
It is understood that the learner was sent home but returned a while later and threw petrol onto the deputy principal’s car, a Hyundai i30, and set it alight.
A security guard and a teacher at the school tried to extinguish the fire in order to save the car but the damage was extensive.
In a video clip, a man can be seen using a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. Learners can also be heard screaming and staff member rushing to the parking lot. The video which is circulating on social media, was reportedly shot by another pupil.
Meanwhile, learners from Ndengetho High School in the west of Durban torched their school after their cellphones along with other contrabands were confiscated during a surprise police inspection.
The learners were enraged after the police confiscated their phones. The school was having issues of drugs and learners carrying weapons in school.
Source: Source: Times Live, The South Africa, IOL, Jacaranda FM, image from Jacaranda FM: Facebook/Screenshot