Outrage as MPs slam WCED’s ‘shameful failure’ in Milnerton High bullying scandal

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Basic Education has criticised Milnerton High School and the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) for what it calls “serious failures” in handling the violent bullying scandal that shocked the country after a video of a Grade 10 learner being assaulted went viral last week.

This comes after disturbing footage emerged this week showing a 16-year-old boy being beaten, slapped and humiliated by a group of learners, allegedly from Milnerton High School’s rugby first team.

The incident reportedly took place on October 16.

The video sparked national outrage and led to strong criticism of the school’s handling of bullying complaints.

In response, the Western Cape Education Department confirmed that eight learners were suspended pending disciplinary hearings, and support services had been offered to those affected.

The eight learners appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Thursday.

Six of the eight Milnerton High School pupils who were charged with assault following a brutal attack on a fellow pupil have been released on R2,000 bail. 

Committee chairperson Joy Maimela led an oversight visit to the school on Thursday, where she said parliament was deeply concerned about allegations that bullying at the school has been ongoing and ignored for years.

 “The intention was to actually establish facts as to what has transpired ever since this gruesome video reached our social media spaces,” Maimela said.

“We wanted to get the details as to what was the department doing, what has the school done ever since they learned about the incidents, and also try and establish if this is not a bigger matter than what we think it is.”

Maimela said during the committee’s visit, other learners came forward with claims of previous unreported bullying incidents.

“There were other allegations that are actually surfacing from social media spaces, also other learners that are coming through to tell us that there is previous incidents of this sort,” she said.

“So, we wanted to really get to the bottom of the issue.”

She said the committee uncovered critical policy gaps at Milnerton High.

“We probed how the school took time to place the learners on precautionary suspension, and that made us probe the anti-bullying policy, which we established that they don’t have,” she said.

“What they have is a code of conduct with just a paragraph that speaks about bullying, and that is not a comprehensive anti-bullying policy, especially for a school that has had incidents of this sort.”

She also said the WCED’s response had been “inadequate”.

“They said that they provided psychosocial support we learned that they didn’t actually provide any psychosocial support. The support they think they provided is not adequate under the circumstances.”

“There are rumours that teachers are part of this campaign. Yes, we’ve got the names of these teachers,” she said.

“One teacher said to the boy, ‘You deserve what happened to you.’ They have no right to make such utterances while these children are going through these things.”

Maimela said parliament supports strong disciplinary action.

“Most definitely,” she said when asked if the eight accused should be expelled.

“The school has to set a serious example; there will be no tolerance for such behaviour.”

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