MOPANI – It was high drama when hundreds of children from the Nahakwe High School at the Lamondokop Village in the Sekgosese area ran amok and turned against their school principal, accusing him for "just folding his arms and look," while they were annually dying of what they described as witchcraft related illnesses.

This follows the death of a 17-year-old pupil from the school, Moses Muti last week.

According to the spokesperson of the police in the Mopani area Capt Moatshe Ngoepe, Muti died after a long illness. A police statement indicates that the situation at the school turned ugly shortly before the pupils gathered at the assembly point for a daily morning prayer. The statement indicates that the pupils started singing freedom songs and toy-toying within the school premises.

They then allegedly started throwing stones and other objects at the principal. The principal escaped the ordeal and ran away.

The pupils then continued hitting the classrooms' windows with stones and thus causing huge damage. The school principal's office was also set alight during the ordeal, but the fire was later extinguished after the arrival of the police on the scene.

According to the police statement, the pupils are worried that it is the third year in a row that a pupil from the same school died at this time of the year. They concluded that their schoolmates were not dying natural deaths, instead they were being bewitched.

No one was injured during the incident. Twenty-one pupils were arrested and charged with public violence and malicious damage to property later that afternoon. They were still to appear in the Sekgosese Magistrate's Court at the time of going to press.