Public Order Police (POPs) members at the Tshwane Police Training Academy on 15 June 2024. Picture: Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu A former Grade 10 pupil who was shot during a school protest in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, six years ago will receive compensation after the minister of police was held responsible for the incident. The Eastern Cape High Court in Mthatha delivered its judgment on Tuesday, 20 January, finding that Siphelele Totseka had successfully proven his claim for damages.
Totseka testified that he was in Grade 10 on 18 July 2019, when he arrived at Attwell Madala Senior Secondary School for the morning assembly. Instead of performing the usual hymns, he and other pupils began a demonstration about the school’s deteriorating facilities. He described the toilets as unusable and the windows as broken, leaving classrooms exposed to rain and cold.
The protest continued beyond the school gates and extended onto the N2 highway, causing a traffic standstill in both directions. The students reportedly threw stones, placed objects in the road, and set tyres on fire, with police officers later arriving in a truck and using tear gas to disperse the crowd. The pupils retreated to the schoolyard but continued their protest.
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After the police left, the students resumed their singing until another police vehicle pulled up. Totseka stated that uniformed officers with visible name tags stepped out, with one remaining across the fence.
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