JOHANNESBURG - In recent years, communities across the country have witnessed a troubling rise in youth violence, school bullying, and physical altercations.
The incidents have sparked widespread concern among teachers, law enforcement officials, and parents alike.
A recent viral video from Milnerton High School has once again brought the issue into focus.
READ | Milnerton school assault video sparks outrage
The footage that has gone viral shows a group of Milnerton High School pupils beating a schoolmate, a Grade 10 pupil, with hockey sticks, belts and a hosepipe.
It’s understood that some of the perpetrators are members of the school’s first-team rugby squad.
The footage has reignited questions about why children have become so violent. Questions are also being raised about what parents can do to raise morally upright children.
One parent, however, believes that it’s not about failed parenting but rather the influence of peer pressure.
“Kids see others doing funny things, getting involved in drugs, and happen around us. When we ask them, they say they saw their friends doing it and wanted to try it out,”she said.
Another parent echoed the same sentiment, pointing to the easy access children have to harmful content and influences through social media.
“As parents, we do everything we can at home. But once our children go to school or interact socially, they get exposed to things they’re not supposed to see,” the parent said.
Many now believe that the problem extends beyond the home to a society where morality is increasingly shaped by what young people see online.
“The environment we live in is so corrupt to the point where drugs and alcohol are freely available. So even a good parent, when they are at work, they do not know what their kids are up to,” one parent says.
In June, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube delivered a stark warning in the National Assembly about school safety.
She warned that schools, which are meant to be havens of hope and learning, are too often plagued by danger, trauma, and violence.
“In the 2023/24 financial year, 28 and 234 rapes and murders occurred in primary schools and two-thirds of these involved learner-to-learner assault”, she said.
The viral footage at Milnerton High School has sparked widespread outrage and calls for accountability.
Activist Vanessa Le Roux says the assaulted boy and his mother are not doing well.
"The saddest part of it all is that the child who was attacked is battling cancer. As a mother, I can understand how that mother feels; she’s falling apart."Le Roux said.
Le Roux says its more than just bullying but assault to cause grievous bodily harm.
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Joy Maimela, echoed similar sentiments, describing the incident “as a criminal offence that demands urgent and decisive action from all relevant authorities.”
The school governing body has since approved the precautionary suspension of eight pupils, with formal hearings set to follow.
Meanwhile, the Western Cape Education Department says it’s is investigating the attack on the Grade 10 pupil.