The North West provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Sello Kwena, has called for the mobilisation of a 72-hour activation plan following the murder of a 45-year-older teacher.
Police spokesperson Sabata Mokgwabone said the incident happened on Tuesday morning at about 7am just outside Rutanang Primary School at Geelhout Park in Rustenburg.
“According to the information received, the teacher was in her Toyota Fortuner in front of the school gate when she was approached by two suspects. One of the suspects shot her at close range. They did not take anything from the car and walked away from the scene on foot.”
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He said the teacher was declared dead on the scene and the motive for the murder was yet to be determined.
Kwena expressed shock over the callous act of gender-based violence. He urged members of the community to work together with the police to ensure that the suspects are brought to book.
Education MEC Mmaphefo Matsemela said she was gutted by the incident:
“I am disappointed that all the social ills from the community are expressed in our schools.”
The department sent a team of counsellors to the school.
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Several teachers were shot dead this year. In January, a deputy principal at Phomolong Secondary School in Tembisa, on the East Rand, was gunned down by three men as she was leaving the school.
In February, the principal of Mariatrost Junior Primary School in umzumbe KwaZulu-Natal and his wife were shot dead by unknown gunmen when they were headed home.
In March, at Primrose Park Primary School in Cape Town a staff member was shot dead on her way to school.
Early this month, a teacher from Mgezwa High School in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape in the who was driving with a colleague, passed away after a gunman fired at them. The two teachers were both shot but the one behind the steering wheel sustained injuries, which he succumbed to in hospital.