The Isiqalo community requested the Samora Machel police to escort learners from school and for them to arrange an imbizo. Picture: Supplied
Cape Town - A group of pupils from the Isiqalo informal settlement near Mitchells Plain are in fear of their lives after they were chased and threatened by five pupils from Samora Machel who wanted to kill them as revenge for a pupil who was killed during a mob attack.
Isiqalo community leader Thelma Tshabile said that on April 13, six boys from Samora Machel robbed a boy from the area of his cellphone while he was on his way from a training session.
A frantic search ensued after the boy reported the incident. One of the six boys was captured by residents who assaulted him and he died.
Tshabile said the information received was that the teenager did not say where he was from.
She said when his mother visited the Isiqalo leadership on Saturday, she informed them that she discovered her son’s death four days later, and that he was not a mugger.
On Friday last week, Tshabile said residents approached the Samora Machel police to ask for their intervention.
The parents requested that the police escort pupils from school and that they arrange an imbizo between the two communities.
Tshabile said the five boys from Samora Machel had compiled a list of four pupils they were targeting, including the robbery victim.
Although the police and the neighbourhood watch had undertaken to patrol the route the pupils take to school and back, Tshabile said that on Monday, parents decided to hire scholar transport.
“What is worrying is that these kids are young, between the ages of 13 and 15, and are in primary school. Their parents do not know that they are robbing people.
“This imbizo would assist in ensuring that there is peace among these two communities as these pupils who missed school were left traumatised by the threats from these boys,” she said.
Police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie said local police had embarked on a school safety campaign, with the strategic deployment of Visible Policing members in the area as an intervention in ongoing threats and alleged fights among pupils from the two areas.
He said police members would focus on, among other areas, the corners of Jake Gerwel Drive and the R300, especially before the start of the school day as pupils travelled to school on foot.
He said the intervention followed a recent meeting between the residents of the Isiqalo informal settlement and Samora Machel.
The Samora Machel Community Policing Forum, which was part of the meeting, was contacted for comment. Chairperson Bongani Maqungwana said he would respond after investigating the matter.
mthuthuzeli.ntseku@inl.co.za
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