02 Sep 2018

The Station Commander for Mahalapye Police Station has expressed concern about the alarming cases of juvenile delinquency, especially at Madiba Senior Secondary School.

Superintendent Isaac Mamadi revealed in an interview that with the support of the village leadership like dikgosi and school management, the police had deployed various strategies to curb the anti-social behaviour displayed by pupils.

He revealed that the school management asked for help as some pupils were involved in brawls where knives were involved.

Supt Mamadi said in an effort to bring the situation under control, a team of police officers was deployed at the school on a full time basis.

He said every time there were no police officers deployed at the school, they received many cases of fights amongst pupils with weapons such as knives used.

He said every year police officers were deployed at the school during examinations as pupils tended to fight others and threaten teachers.

The police chief said assigning officers to Madiba affected their service delivery negatively as there would be shortage of officers to attend to serious criminal cases elsewhere in the village.

He said investigations carried out at the school revealed that the pupils had established groups of gangs and that whenever a member of another group got provoked by a member of a rival group, a bloody fight ensued.

Supt Mamadi said the anti-social behaviour often led to life threatening injuries and vandalism of school property.

As a result, he said the school environment was not conducive for learning as some students were likely to abscond due to threats from the gangs.

He said some were also likely to perform badly as they wasted time reserved for studying to engage in unruly behaviour while some were likely to be expelled missing the opportunity of pursuing their studies and preparing for their future.

Some innocent and law abiding pupils lived in fear as they were being victimised by the gangs, he said.

He said despite the challenging environment, the police, the school management and other authorities were engaging the pupils through various platforms in an effort to guide them positively.

He further said they have addressed kgotla meetings in all Mahalapye wards to plead with parents to discipline, nurture and mould their children into law abiding citizens.

He also urged parents to play a vital role in helping teachers discipline children, adding it was every parent’s responsibility to shape the behaviour of their children.

For his part, Kgosi Duncan Segotsi of Mahalapye said his office was equally concerned about the unbecoming behaviour displayed by young people including school going children.

Kgosi Segotsi said such behaviour was detrimental as it would affect their performance at school, adding that his office was also in the process of engaging parents through kgotla meetings.

He further appealed to parents and society as a whole to monitor the behaviour of children and direct them positively.

He said it was unfortunate as some elderly members of society contributed to the moral decay as they were found to be fuelling negative behaviour by selling drugs and other habit forming substances to children.

Kgosi Segotsi was however hopeful that with the support of the community, the environment at Madiba would be transformed to the desired setting where pupils would be empowered with the necessary tools for their future without any disruptions. ENDS