South African Press Association, 22 April 1999

Seventy-six pupils on assault charges in East Cape court

PRETORIA -- Seventy-six pupils of Zamdola Junior Secondary School at Ngqeleni in the Eastern Cape appeared in court on Thursday charged with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, SABC radio news reported.

They were not asked to plead and were let out on a warning.

The case was postponed to May 12.

Their appearance follows the stoning on Wednesday of school principal Zuko Vundle, who the pupils accused of expelling Technical Drawing teachers.

Vundle was admitted to Ntlaza Hospital with serious injuries, but was discharged on Wednesday.

The New National Party on Thursday called on the Eastern Cape's department of Education to expel the pupils and to reintroduce capital [sic] punishment at schools.

In a statement NNP spokeswoman Juli Kilian said the outlawing of corporal punishment at schools had contributed to the lack of discipline at school levels.

She said the attack was a warning to the government that "their education policy experiments have now turned schools in our country to battlegrounds of frustration and anger."