Corpun file 14066

Times of Zambia, Ndola, 15 July 2004

Ndola police hold 14 riotous Chifubu pupils

By Chishimba Chishimba

FOURTEEN Chifubu High School pupils in Ndola were yesterday arrested after they ran amok, stoning vehicles on Kwacha Road.

The pupils, 10 girls and four boys, were being detained at Kansenshi police station.

The pupils got incensed when the parents of a female pupil who had fainted after being caned, confronted the headmaster John Chalwe demanding to know the teacher who administered the corporal punishment.

A grade 10 pupil, identified as Mwape Mumba, fainted soon after a teacher caned her. She was taken to a local clinic and later to Ndola Central Hospital where she was treated and discharged.

Narrating the incident, her aunt, Tela Sambo said the pupil fainted around mid-day and was taken to the hospital but the parents were only informed late in the afternoon.

The development incensed the parents who went to the hospital and later to the school where a near scuffle ensued with Mr Chalwe.

Mr Chalwe when asked for a comment, said the parents could have attracted the attention of the pupils who ran riot.

He said it was a ‘small’ incident which would be sorted out today.

But Ndola police chief Mukuka Chewe who was found at Kansenshi police station, said the rioting was uncalled for because the vehicles which the pupils stoned belonged to people who were not part of the problem.

The 14 pupils had been charged with conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace.

Mr Chewe said the pupils would also be charged with malicious damage done to several vehicles caught up in the rumpus.

A mini-bus registration ACE 4554 had its side windows shuttered while another Toyota Land-Cruiser registration ACD 766 had the back and side windows broken. They were parked at the police station.

Eye-witnesses said the stoning started soon after the parents sped off. The pupils gave chase to try to manhandle the parents but failed.

It was at this point that the pupils turned their attention to other motorists using the busy road.

The situation caused a traffic jam around 16:00 hrs with some vehicles reversing on either side of the road to avoid being caught up in the fracas.

Police officers from Chifubu and Kansenshi police stations were called in and cordoned off the road as pupils scampered. They managed to apprehend 14 pupils suspected to have been ring-leaders.

They were bundled into a police Nissan vannette and escorted by another police vehicle with armed officers to the station.

The girls, speaking from the cell, said they were innocent and that they were ready to identify the instigators of the violence.