KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC is expected to visit the Buhlebethu Primary School on Thursday, his spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa said in a media alert on Wednesday night. 

The school is located in the Inanda township, north of Durban. Mthethwa said the suspects were unknown. 

“The MEC for Education in KwaZulu-Natal will visit Buhlebethu Primary School where an educator was attacked and shot by unknown suspects who had gained access to the school under the disguise of being parents. 

“The suspects suddenly opened fire, shot at, and injured an educator who was immediately taken to hospital for medical attention,” said Mthethwa. 

The circumstances around the shooting remain unknown at this stage. 

The MEC is expected at the school early on Thursday morning. 

Meanwhile, Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga took to Facebook to shed light around the shooting at the school. 

He said police were investigating a case of attempted murder after the teacher was shot during an admission programme at the school. 

The spokesperson also revealed that two pupils, in Grade 8 and 9 respectively, had stabbed each other at Old Mill Secondary School in the King Cetshwayo District. He said one of the pupils was rushed to the hospital and that there were no fatalities recorded. 

Mhlanga also said a teacher died after they collapsed in front of pupils at Kangikho Primary School near Empangeni.

VIOLENT HISTORY

The shooting at the Inanda school comes after years of calls from student movements such as the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) called for armed guards to be stationed at schools around the province. 

In June last year, a 48-year-old teacher was killed when he was shot on the corridors of his eFolweni school, to the south of Durban. 

That shooting took place at the Masuku Primary school on Gaze Makhanya Avenue in Folweni.

The teacher was shot in the head and adbomen and died. 

IOL