Kraaifontein crime fighter slams learner riot after one is arrested
A Kraaifontein teen appeared in court on Friday after chaos erupted on Wednesday morning when about 700 learners rioted in the streets in Wallacedene demanding that foreign nationals leave their schools and country.
Learners from Masibambane High School and Hector Peterson High School reportedly assaulted a foreign national, vandalised school staff vehicles, threw bricks at passing motorists, and looted fruit stalls.
The unrest continued again on Thursday when alleged foreign fruit traders’ stalls were looted and vandalised in the same community.
This is amid a wave of anti-migrant sentiment currently sweeping across the country and Cape Town.
Police spokesperson Captain FC Van Wyk confirmed that an 18-year-old appeared at the Kuils River Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
Chairperson for the Kraaifontein Community Police Forum, Mawethu Sila, meanwhile, said the riot cannot be compared to the Soweto student uprising of 1976 - commemorated on June 16 as a Youth Day - when learners protested apartheid laws.
Sila said: “We cannot call it xenophobia; it is just a few individuals who have decided to disrupt the learning and teachings at schools.
“We cannot afford to have children just walking up and down in the street during learning and teaching because those are the leaders of tomorrow.
“Some might compare it to the Soweto student uprising of 1976, but the conditions are not the same.
“My question is, if you are taking children out of school, what exactly are you trying to achieve, because they are not trained to distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.
“According to my understanding, if illegal foreigners are a problem, then they should have marched to the authorities to raise their concerns and not take the law into their own hands.
“As a CPF, we are saying that the perpetrators must be brought to book and put behind bars. To the community, foreigners are in South Africa, legally and illegally. We need to follow the proper procedures for those people who are not supposed to be here.
“We can’t do it by ourselves. We must teach our people and our children to engage.”
Spokesperson for the Western Cape Education Department, Bronagh Hammond, said that the schools involved will follow their own disciplinary procedures.