Frantic parents rushed to pick up their children from
Gauteng schools yesterday after rumours spread that they were being abducted.
In the early hours of yesterday, rumours surfaced that
pupils were being kidnapped by foreign nationals in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni, in
retaliation for the looting of their shops.
These messages spread out like wild fires to other areas in
Ekurhuleni such as Reiger Park and Wadeville.
To make matters worse, there was a woman in metro police
uniform who shared a video on Twitter, calling on parents to fetch their
children from schools as Pakistan nationals were headed there.
In the background, a group of people who looked like
parents could be seen trying to gain access at a school and save their
children.
As the fake news gained traction, parents panicked and
rushed to fetch their children whom they thought faced danger.
By the time education MEC Panyaza Lesufi rejected the
rumours on social media, it was a little too late as they had already had
spread too wide.
A total of 13 schools saw parents come to fetch their
children as they feared they were being attacked. There were also rumours of
schools being set alight.
A principal at a primary school in Reiger Park detailed to
Sowetan how things simply got out of hand as parents stormed the school to take
their children home.
"We started receiving calls from parents this morning
[yesterday], asking if the school is on fire. Then it was calls from parents
asking whether their children had been kidnapped.
"Before we knew it, there were hundreds of parents at
the gate to take their children. I explained that somebody must be spreading
these fake messages and it was causing panic," the principal said.
The principal, who could not be named as he is not
authorised to speak to the media, said he allowed all the parents to take their
children home.
Lesufi later visited Lungisani Primary School in Katlehong
which was one of the facilities said to be engulfed by flames.
"We are indeed disturbed and worried that these things
are now spreading towards the education space when it's at a sensitive
stage," Lesufi said. "We are preparing for preliminary exams, all
these things are honestly unwarranted. People spread rumours that parents must
rush to all schools to fetch children and that there are people moving towards
our schools to remove children which are false."
While the east of Gauteng had schools in panic, residents
in Tshwane were in panic over a false message which suggested that taxi
associations would meet in Marabastad and head to Sunnyside to deal with
criminality in the city.
The South African National Taxi Council came out strongly,
rejecting the message as fake news. Tshwane inner city operated as normal.
Meanwhile, the looting of shops which started on Sunday
night, continued on the East Rand. Shops, some owned by locals, at Sontonga
Mall in Katlehong, and Thokoza, were looted.
Police stretched thin as they responded to sporadic looting
incidents in Ekurhuleni.
A total of 289 people had been arrested since the outbreak
of looting in Gauteng. Five people have been killed as a result of clashes
between locals and foreign shop owners. Sowetan
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