Top Cape Town high school receives second bomb threat in just over a week

Wynberg Girls’ High School (WGHS) in Cape Town received its second bomb threat in just over a week on Friday morning 14 November in the midst of the ongoing matric final exams.

“We have received a second bomb threat and have evacuated the school building,” the school told parents on 14 November.

Newsday contacted the school and was told that calm has been restored and that all learners are seated and writing their exams.

WGHS principal, Dr Jennifer Wallace, later issued a letter to parents saying that “a second phone call was received at 07:48 this morning, threatening that a bomb was in the building.”

She added that “as per protocol, we immediately alerted the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the other schools on the campus, and the evacuation was promptly initiated.”

The school explained that the nearby Wynberg Boys’ High School immediately offered venues for the matric learners to write the National Senior Certificate Life Sciences paper.

She said that the junior schools assisted with transporting the matric learners to the new venue. The circuit manager arrived shortly after to assist with the process.

Wallace thanked SAPS, the Bomb Squad, and the K9 Unit for their response to the incident and thorough search of the school buildings.

“I am pleased to report that SAPS gave us the all-clear 15 minutes ago, and we have now safely returned to the school building,” Wallace said.

“My sincere thanks to every member of our community for your cooperation, calmness, and support throughout this morning’s events.”

According to the Western Cape Education Department, the integrity of the matric NSC exam process has not been compromised.

“We can confirm that they are now seated and writing their examinations,” the department said in a statement.

This comes after the school received a bomb threat on Wednesday, 5 November, when matrics were writing Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, Xitsonga, Tshivenda, and South African Sign Language.

Similar to the second bomb threat, learners were promptly evacuated from the school buildings until SAPS confirmed that the threat was a hoax.

However, this came much later in the day while students were already writing their exams, causing a disruption and forcing the school to reschedule several exams meant to be completed that day.

Creating a bomb scare in South Africa is a criminal offence and can result in prison time.

Earlier this year, the Bellville Regional Court handed a five-year direct prison sentence to a man who told police he had planted bombs at the Department of Water and Sanitation, Transnet offices, and the Bellville taxi rank.

“The National Prosecuting Authority accepts the sentence of the court and warns that anyone who makes such threats will face tough consequences,” it said following the judgment.

“The NPA will not hesitate to prosecute conduct of this nature to the full extent that the law allows.”