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Beacon Hill pupils stand against bullying

Marsha Leitch|Published

Beacon Hill High School pupils held an anti-bullying demonstration.

Beacon Hill High School pupils have stood in solidarity with victims of bullying.

They held an anti-bullying demonstration at the school on Friday April 16.

In 2018, a viral social-media video showed two Beacon Hill High schoolgirls fighting. The incident led to the school being chosen to launch a campaign against bullying in schools.

The demonstration last Friday comes after Limpopo schoolgirl Lufuno Mavhunga, 15, committed suicide, following a bullying incident at her school on Monday April 12. Lufuno reportedly took an overdose of medication after she was allegedly assaulted by a fellow Mbilwi Secondary School pupil. A video surfaced that appears to show a girl repeatedly slapping Lufuno outside the school. A 14-year-old girl has been arrested.

Alessio Marcus, a Beacon Hill High pupil who is also deputy chairman of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Parliament, said a lot more action needed to accompany all the talk against bullying.

“Bullying gets spoken of so much, but there’s not much solutions. There’s no action on bullying, a girl took her life and that’s how she dealt with it. It is a huge problem. Society has become used to bullying,” he said.

“We want government to make an example of everyone involved in this case.”

Pupil Taina Abrahams, 17, said: “We are here on behalf of everyone. This is not happening to one person, it is happening to all of us; we are affected by this.”

Pupil Liam Berries, 17, said: “Pupils need to come together. They should try to speak out about bullying if it is affecting them. This affects us all.”