The Star reports that the fatal stabbing of a teacher by a pupil in North West has sparked all-too-familiar fears for KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) teachers.  

The provincial National Teachers’ Union (Natu) and the SA Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu) said on Monday that their members should not be working in fear, wondering if they were going to be the next victim.  Gadimang Mokolobate, 24, died after being stabbed in the chest on Thursday at a secondary school near Zeerust.  His alleged murderer - a Grade 10 learner - had apparently been reprimanded by Mokolobate for jumping the queue for food the day before.  Natu's Allen Thompson said schools were the last place teachers should be in danger and that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) was failing teachers and learners by not providing sufficient, properly trained security guards.  Natu was proposing one security guard for every 300 pupils, as “anything less would be the department continuing to gamble with teachers' and learners' lives.”  But, a DBE spokesperson said their budget was already stretched to make provisions for teaching and learning.  Sadtu's Bheki Shandu said while teachers were taught how to deal with ill-discipline, they were not equipped to deal with violence and that the “drugs, struggles, fights and grudges happening in society are spilling into schools, as we have seen with the killing of the two learners in KwaMakhutha, which was found to be linked to gangsterism.

• Read this report by Nosipho Mngoma in full at The Star
• Read too, Pupil ‘stabs’ teacher out of hunger, at SowetanLive
• And also, It’s crucial to look for the warning signs, at SowetanLive

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page