Illustrative image | School Safety. (Photo: iStock) | A teacher in front of a blackboard. (Photo: World Bank Photo Library) 
Safety concerns are escalating in schools in some parts of Gauteng and the Western Cape, where educators are becoming targets of violent crime. Staff members are being attacked in their workplace.
In the past month alone, two incidents took place in two primary schools.
A primary school principal and administrator was shot at Inxiweni Primary School in Johannesburg.
The incident happened on Wednesday night, 18 November 2025, inside the school’s administration block. The principal, a 58-year-old woman, a 55-year-old female administrator and other colleagues were reportedly preparing for a meeting scheduled for later in the week.
Gauteng education MEC Matomi Chiloane’s spokesperson Xolani Mkhwemte said the incident showed how crime affected schools directly.
“It highlights the importance of community involvement in school safety. It also means the department must better its partnership with civil society,” Mkhwemte said.
In a separate incident in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, a school staff member was targeted at Kayamandi Primary School.
Murdered
The deputy principal was murdered inside the school grounds on Friday afternoon, 21 November.
Western Cape Education Department spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said an armed individual entered the school premises after learners had been dismissed for the day and approached the victim, who was seated under a tree.
The killings have increased fears about safety in and around school premises.
Read more: Havens of havoc — the alarming rise of violence in South African schools
Khulas Kuyeya, the mother of a child who attends Kayamandi Primary School, said her child had been shocked when she came back from school.
“My child is now very reluctant to go to school,” Kuyeya said. She urged the government to ensure safety at schools.
Hammond said that the Western Cape Education Department Safe Schools programme worked with the police and local law enforcement to identify high-risk areas and decide where extra support was needed.
“This could include additional security funding, visible patrols before and after school, or deploying school-based officers provided by the metro police in the Cape Town metro,” she said.
Mkhwemte also mentioned that in Gauteng there were five schools that experienced similar incidents in which a shooting occurred on the school premises or in its immediate environment.
According to a Central University of Technology study, all forms of violence in schools infringe on the fundamental right to education, and an unsafe learning environment diminishes the quality of teaching and learning. Both teachers and learners emerge as the primary victims of school safety incidents.
Psychosocial Unit
The education department’s Psychosocial Unit was stationed at Kayamandi Primary School attending to learners, and the Employee Assistance Programme was also providing support to educators and learners, according to Mkhwemte.
“These units are already on site, and faith-based organisations have also attended,” he said.
The department was busy assessing risks at schools to determine the level of security required.
He said the department was in partnership with the South African Police Service and recently signed a school safety protocol with them.
“A partnership with the Department of Community Safety has resulted in the development of an integrated crime prevention strategy.”
Schools must ensure that safety procedures were in place, including the locking of gates, having a patroller to control access, ensuring the school grounds were clean, maintaining general discipline, and having effective visitor management systems, Mkhwemte said. DM