Learner calls for principal’s arrest over alleged abuse

Grade 10 learner, Katlego Kgoele, is demanding justice.

The Madisong Secondary School learner’s 2023 image showing the aftermath of his beating, allegedly, from the school’s principal, Bethuel Mooka, has gone viral on social media.

It was apparently leaked by his schoolmate who is fed-up of Mooka’s alleged reign of terror.

According to 17-year-old Kgoele, the justice he seeks is not for only him but also from all his schoolmates who have experienced the principal’s alleged brutality.

He believes principal Mooka should be arrested since he has been “abusing” them for far too long.

“I just feel like he should eventually be arrested because this man has been abusing us for too long in the school. That’s how I want him to be held accountable. Others who have suffered at his hand at the school must also get justice,” adds Kgoele.

He claims that the principal is picky about who he addresses normally, and says as a result, he is the last person he would turn to for help with anything.

The 17-year-old claims that principal Mooka, who leads one of Hammanskraal’s top perfoming schools, is an impulsive physical abuser, who despises children who struggle academically.

According to locals, the grade 10 was struck 60 times with a plumbing cable after him and his friends were found within a restricted area of the school.

Parents believe their children perform well in school but are afraid of the principal.

The 17-year-old’s grandmother says while she disagrees with iron fist, she has been hesitant to confront him for fear of getting him expelled.

Sina Kgoloe (61) says she pays R300 per year from her pension money for the 17-year-old’s education at the school.

She said she was hurt by the assault on the young lad and believes he didn’t deserve such a harsh punishment.

“We (parents) never question him. He will say to us that our children do not listen and that they are always fighting among each other. He would tell us that when he hits them, then they understand him too well. He slaps them and kicks them with his shoes,” explains Mme Kgoele.

She says she does not want to remove Katlego from school due to its reputation.

Parents have attested to the principal’s alleged nack for hitting learners, saying it has even led a few schools to use the same practice despite it being outlawed in the country.

Kgoele’s uncle, Andries, believes wants Mooka removed from the school, saying he does not believe that he affords his own children the similar treatment.

He claims his nephew was suspended from school for the rest of the year in February after reportedly retaliating against another learner who was fighting him.

The uncle, who lives with Katlego and his grandmother, claims he went to the school to ask them to pardon the 1-year-old’s actions and was stunned by the principal’s remark that if Kgoele did not leave the school, he would murder him.

“He says Katlego doesn’t listen to authority. I then asked him why he is able to listen to me and not him to which he replied that he also has no idea. I then asked for forgiveness on Katlego’s behalf, he then said Katlego is influenced by his friends and that he expelled him because he would end up killing him if he continued at the school,” explains Rre Kgoele.

The principal, who’s also known as “Power”, allegedly hires Community Policing Forum (CPF) patrollers to help run the school.

Some learners have told YNews that they want to leave the school as they have had enough of the alleged abuse under the guise of discipline.

One grade 10 student, who talked asked for anonymity for fear of repraissal, says he wants to enrol in a another school where he will be treated with more dignity.

The 16-year-old, who says he started at the reputable school in February, claims the principal has been abusive towards him on several occasions, but his parents have swept it under the rug.

“It’s useless because they never hold him accountable even when we tell our parents,” says the learner.

Some of the pupils allege that the principal occasionally collaborates with police officers to use corporal punishment on them as if they were criminals.

One pupil, who also wished to remain nameless, described his ordeal while being disciplined by Mooka.

“He took my head and put it between his legs and then squeezed it down with his one foot. He then beat me with multiple fists on my back while I was laying down on my stomach, then he forcefully stood me up and proceeded to beat me with fists on my stomach and also slapped my face with several slaps,” adds the learner.

Tshegofatso Moratlhane, a grade 10 student at the school, claims that one of his friends was suspended for the 2025 academic year after attempting to defend himself from the principal’s harmful hand.

“There was a day when Onka had done one teacher wrong, so they took him to the principal’s office where he was assaulted and he tried to defend himself by blocking the principal’s harmful attempts at him. The principal then told him that he should never come back to the school,” alleges Moratlhane.

Moratlhane alleges that his friend has not returned to school since being suspended, and that he is now enrolled at a school that prioritises physical labour.

Many children at the school say they dread going to school because they are afraid of the stern principal.

According to Moratlhane, some kids were beaten by the principal shortly after returning from the Easter break for failing to attend extra lessons during the holidays; despite not knowing why they were unable to attend.

The Gauteng Education Department is investigating the matter. Written by Odirile Rabolao