WATCH | KZN Education MEC launches investigation after security guard caught pointing gun at pupil

• KZN Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu has launched an investigation into allegations of "police brutality" at Effingham Secondary School.
• A protest broke out on Thursday which led to the arrest of two pupils.
• In a video that has since gone viral, a man who appears to be a security officer points a firearm at a female pupil.

KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu has launched an investigation into allegations of "police brutality" at Effingham Secondary School in Durban, after a video depicting a security guard pointing a firearm at a pupil went viral on social media.

READ | Tear gas, rubber bullets fired at protesting parents and pupils at Gauteng school accused of racism

On Friday, Mshengu confirmed his department was probing the matter.

"I have assigned a two-member team to attend [to] the situation of police brutality against learners of Effingham Secondary. Legal Services have been directed to assist in opening criminal cases against the person pointing a rifle at learners." 

The video had been doing the rounds online since Thursday afternoon, after chaos erupted at the school during a protest.

Two men, one in a Fidelity ADT uniform and another unidentified man, appear to manhandle a pupil at the school during the protest. A schoolmate attempts to prevent them from grabbing her from a seated position on the ground.

The security official not in uniform then points his firearm at the pupil before he and the Fidelity ADT security officer grab the girl by the arm and take her away.

Two pupils were reportedly arrested during the fracas.

The school was shut by management following the incident.

Metro police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Parboo Sewpersad said it was not Durban's metro officers who had made the arrests, but rather SAPS.

"We were called to the school as the gates were locked. On arrival we assessed the situation was volatile; two children were arrested at the school. We did not arrest them.

"We have no idea what they were doing, but the SAPS should have the charges. It was not a metro police officer who pointed the firearm, that was private security," Sewpersad added.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala could not immediately confirm the arrests, referring enquiries to the education department.

Gwala said:

Fidelity Services Group CEO Wahl Bartmann said Fidelity ADT were contacted twice on Thursday for assistance.

First, at 09:23 when they were asked to send an armed response vehicle, after a fight broke out on the school grounds between pupils and unknown people.

"Our officer arrived at the school where he was met by SAPS, Metro Police, and a member of the local Community Policing Forum.

"SAPS requested our officer to assist in restraining one of the learners involved in the fight. He (the guard) suffered minor injuries in the process of trying to restrain the learner."

Bartmann said that earlier in the day, at around 07:00, they were also called to send an armed response vehicle to the school, following reports of "suspicious" behaviour outside the gates.

He added that the videos circulated on social media did not portray an accurate version of events at the school.

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