Sue Blaine
27 August 2007
Johannesburg — PARLIAMENT is to discuss proposed search and seizure legislation, designed to allow schools to stop weapons and drugs being brought by pupils to SA's public schools, next month, the education department said on Friday.
The proposed legislation - part of a number of changes to the Education Laws Amendment Bill - is designed to curb violence in South African schools, which has lead to numerous deaths, through strengthening principals' powers.
In 2005, the Human Rights Commission said violence at many of SA's public schools was so bad that it denied pupils their constitutional rights to education.
Representations from the public on the proposed legislation will be allowed in Parliament on September 10 and Parliament would debate the bill on September 20, said education department spokesman Lunga Ngqengelele.
The bill would be signed into law by President Thabo Mbeki some time after November 20, when it is expected to be presented to the National Council of Provinces, but the education department hoped the legislation would be promulgated before the end of this year, Ngqengelele said.
The proposed search and seizure regulations had deliberately not given schools the power to lay criminal charges against pupils caught out in a search, advocate Eben Boshoff, legal adviser to Education Minister Naledi Pandor, told Parliament's portfolio committee on education last week .
International experience from the U.S., Malaysia and Europe showed drugs and weapons confiscated in searches conducted by principals and teachers were not admissible in court because they infringed on pupils' constitutional rights to privacy . He said regulations contained in the Bill had been constructed with an eye on making them as constitutionally acceptable as possible.
The proposed legislation allows random searches of any pupils if a "fair and reasonable suspicion" has been established that a dangerous weapon, or an illegal drug, is to be found at any school activity. It forbids searches that are not instigated by the school principal.
Pupils may be searched only by a person - principal or teacher - of the same sex and in the presence of a witness of the same sex, and may be searched only out of sight of other pupils. Drugs or weapons seized must be clearly and correctly labelled with the pupil's name, the time and date of seizure, an "incident reference number", the names of the searcher and witness and "any other details".
Schools are also allowed to demand that a pupil produce a urine sample if he or she is "on fair and reasonable grounds" suspected of using illegal drugs. Similar rules to those governing searches apply.
The Human Sciences Research Council found in 2005 that violence in South African schools contributed to teachers deciding to leave the school system.
The major forms of violence teachers experienced in the 12 months to March 2005 included instances of pupils or teachers carrying weapons into the school (22%), assault (18%) and fights involving weapons (14,4%).
Academics say that violen ce committed by children at school will continue until SA reassesses the values that inform South African society.
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