Umlazi school violence intensifies

A grade-12 pupil from uMlazi's Vukuzakhe High School was struck over the head with a golf club during an altercation last week - believed to be linked to an ongoing feud between boys from the township's N-section and J-section.

The department's Muzi Mahlambi says the matter has escalated to a worrying.

"There's a school - where, for example - boys are butchering each other with knives because of girlfriends. In the matter of K or J or N - we still do not know as the department. Because it's a community-based issue; it's a social issue," he said.

Mahlambi says that in this particular case, it's not just the pupils who don't feel safe. He's urged community leaders to deal with the problem before it spirals out of control.

"It's affecting everyone. We are told it's not only learners that are being attacked - but others themselves. they are being movement now is restricted in terms of those sections, it's a big worry to us," he said.