The principal who was shot by a 13-year-old pupil at his school says he can't wait to get back to work and feels pity for his attacker.
Noko Selepe, 50, headmaster at Primrose Primary in Germiston, Ekurhuleni, was discharged from hospital this week after being shot in the stomach by the boy who had brought his father's gun to school, allegedly on a mission to kill Selepe.
“I feel pity for the young man because I don't know what he was going through. There could be social problems that caused the child to behave in a particular way,” Selepe told the Sunday Times on Friday.
“I miss my kids. I enjoy being around children. That is my passion. I have been teaching for almost 27 years. Teaching is in my blood.”
Selepe said that the day before the shooting on February 16, he had a premonition that something bad involving the boy would happen.
He said the boy had a history of backchatting teachers, ill-discipline, disrespect and reluctance to work in the classroom.
He had met the boy's parents four times last year and they had told him they did not understand his behaviour at school as he behaved well at home.
Selepe said a day before the shooting, after learning that the boy was again behaving badly, he had called his father.
“It was like I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. I told the father on the phone ‘Don't let the boy come alone to school tomorrow, come with him and hold him by the hand.’ But the father did not honour that agreement,” Selepe said.
Describing the shooting, he said the boy had come to his office in the morning while there was load-shedding in the area.
“He met me in the passage as I was coming out of the bathroom. I said he must wait in the waiting area because we are waiting for his parents,” Selepe said.
“He did not say anything, he just pulled the gun from the bag. At first I did not see what it was because it was a bit dark. Then I saw it was a gun and he was holding it with both hands pointing at me. By that time I could tell he had already made up his mind to shoot so I tried to dive to my left.
“He fired and missed me with one bullet. Unfortunately, our passage is not that big. He fired the second bullet and hit me in the stomach. The boy wanted to kill me.
“After shooting me he looked me in the eye to see if I was dead. I did not move. I could see he still wanted to pull the trigger again. I then lay motionless and pretended to be dead. Because it was a little bit dark he could not see my eyes. He then left thinking I was dead,” Selepe said.
He fired and missed me with one bullet. Unfortunately, our passage is not that big. He fired the second bullet and hit me in the stomach. The boy wanted to kill me
The principal was admitted to an intensive care unit, but is now back home. The boy was arrested the same day, along with his father. They appeared in the Germiston magistrate's court and will appear again on March 19.
Selepe said the incident had shocked everyone because the school did not have a history of violence.
“Our kids are disciplined and are doing their work. The school is performing well, it is only this child that had a problem. There might be a lot of issues behind his behaviour, it is just that we were not aware.”
A teacher at the school said he and his colleagues were shaken by the incident.
“We really feel unsafe.”
Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane said fellow-pupils had disclosed the boy had been planning the attack for a while and discussed it on a dedicated WhatsApp group.
“The child was [allegedly] intending to shoot about three teachers. He targeted his class teacher, the deputy principal and principal because these were the three people giving him problems in school,” Chiloane said.
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