The department’s legal services officials have also been directed to assist the victim to open a police case.
- Two KZN pupils have been suspended after a bullying video went viral.
- The video showed a pupil ripping another pupil’s underwear and beating her.
- The school governing body has one week to conclude disciplinary processes.
The Department of Education in KwaZulu-Natal has suspended two Mathole High School pupils after a video of one of them attacking the other went viral.
“The [department] has summarily suspended two pupils, pending the disciplinary hearing, who attacked a pupil shown in the gruesome video clip that is being circulated on social media,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
In the video, which went viral on Monday, a female pupil can be seen on the floor while another pupils rips her underwear. The attacking pupil then begins throwing a flurry of punches as the other one helplessly takes the beating and pupils watch.
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The department said the school was directed to finalise the disciplinary processes within seven days.
“Professional therapy is currently being offered to the victim and other affected learners by competent psychologists from the department of social development.”
The department’s legal services officials have also been directed to assist the victim to open a police case and to contact the social media platforms’ administrators with the aim of removing the video and blocking its circulation.
“The Department of Education wishes to appeal to members [of] the public to refrain from circulating [the] humiliating video clip as further circulation will only serve to inflict more harm to the dignity of the victim for the rest of her life.”