SCHOOL gang violence is not something new. However, the use of dangerous weapons and murder is something new, old boys from Founders High School and Hamilton High School say.
In an interview, a Founders High class of 2012 student, Prince Zhakata said gang violence between Hamilton High and Founders High is an embedded culture that will be difficult to curb.
“At times we could fight with Gifford High School but in most cases our greatest rival was Hamilton and basically in most cases we would be fighting over Montrose High School girls.
“I thought the violence could go down now that Hamilton is now a mixed school with both boys and girls but unfortunately the culture between the schools still lives,” said Prince.
He said it is so unfortunate that last week the fight between pupils from the two schools led to the death of Wayne Ndlovu, a Founders High School pupil.
“The fights were always there even when I was a student there. I still remember the day when students from Hamilton High School came to Founders and locked all the gates at our school with their padlocks.
“In terms of fighting we were always fighting but we never used dangerous weapons that can take away one’s life. If we were using a weapon we would use mathematical set dividers that are so sharp at both ends and it was painful for someone to be stabbed with that. It could injure the person but not kill the person. We used stones to fight each other as well and those were the most used fighting tools,” he said.
Another former Founders High School pupil, Aron Moyo said the rivalry between the two schools was a culture that he found when he was enrolled at Founders High School in 2008 and he is not knowledgeable about its origins.
“During our days at Founders we always fought with Hamilton but we never used dangerous weapons to fight each other. Also with the culture that is now there in the schools the school leaders became aware of the fights and during closing days of schools they would dismiss us at different times starting with Founders then later Hamilton in order to prevent misunderstandings between the schools,” said Aron.
He said the fights were not extreme and usually happened during sporting activities, closing days and rarely happened during the normal school days.
A former Hamilton student Tatenda Mutamiri (36) said pupils from the two schools fought violent battles in an effort to assert dominance.
“Where we used to get transport that’s where the boys from Founders were also getting their transport so some of the quarrels and fights would happen there. Founders and Hamilton would not want to mix in the kombi together with the Montrose girls. So we would solve the misunderstandings through fighting,” said Tatenda.
He said the fights were usually ended by touts and the police.
“The fights are caused by trivial issues that can also be hard to solve by the school leaders. Those trivial and stupid issues have become a part of the culture of the schools,” he said. – The Chronicle
