R1.1m suit after school knife attack

A teacher at a Mamelodi east primary school is claiming R1.1 million in damages from a general worker at the school, as well as from the Gauteng Department of Education, after he was allegedly chased by the worker wielding a knife and then a garden fork.

Mokganya Oupa Matsapola, a teacher at Mamelodi Primary School, also known as the Meetse A Bophelo School, said in papers before the Pretoria High Court he still suffered from nightmares following his harrowing ordeal.

The 39-year-old teacher said that on December 11, 2009, at about 10am, Lazarus Mokgohlwa, who was responsible for the garden and general maintenance at the school, attacked him without provocation.

He said Mokgohlwa attacked him with a knife in front of the pupils, their parents and other teachers and chased him while shouting insults such as “son of a bitch, fake teacher, stupid and voertsek”.

Matsapola said he escaped unharmed, but then the man picked up a garden fork and chased him again until he was stopped by people at the school.

The teacher said his attacker knew at the time that his actions were wrong and added that the man was acting in the course and scope of his employment with the Education Department.

He said Mokgohlwa was liable to compensate him for the unlawful attacks, as well as for the defamatory statements he made in front of other people. The Education Department, the teacher said, was liable to compensate him by virtue of being the man’s employer at the time of the incident. He stated that Mokgohlwa was still employed by the department.

Matsapola said the department should be held accountable as it “failed to ensure that its employees were properly trained and that they did not place the lives of fellow employees in danger”.

According to the teacher he still suffered from psychiatric trauma, emotional shock, anxiety and trepidation for his own life and career paths as a result of the attack. He said he suffered from depression, waking up in the middle of the night and crying.

Matsapola said he was being regarded and treated by members of the public and his own pupils as a coward.

“I lost the respect I used to command amongst my colleagues, learners and within my own community,” he said in court papers.

He concluded that as a result of the attacks and the “failure” by the department to provide adequate training to its employees, as well as its failure to take corrective measures afterwards, he suffered damages in the amount of R1.1m.

Mokgohlwa, in defending the action, admitted that there was an incident between him and the teacher. He did not elaborate on this, only to deny that he wrongfully assaulted the teacher.

The department denied liability, saying Mokgohlwa, if he indeed attacked the teacher, acted on his own and not in the scope of his employment.

The matter was postponed indefinitely. - Pretoria News