25/10/2025
https://www.facebook.com/share/16Dv6xp7Jf/
Marele Venter Occupational Therapist founder of BullyBusters was invited to speak to Newzroom Afrika during the AM Report on Thursday, 23 October 2025. This followed an alleged incident at Milnerton High School on 17 October 2025. According to reports, the victims, including a 16-year-old pupil who recently recovered from cancer, were lashed with belts, a hosepipe, and sticks.
The situation depicted in the video that went viral at Milnerton High School appears to be a case of bullying that escalated to verbal and physical assault. The actions in the video were not mere physical bullying but a violent assault.
🔵Background
Bullying is viewed as a situational stressor that may result in mental health challenges for all parties involved. To meet society’s needs, therapists need to respond to how society is changing and evolving. According to the American Occupational Therapy Association (Yamkovenko, AOTA, 2011), researchers identified bullying as one of five emerging niches in Children and Youth.
Historically, bullying ceased when the victim and the perpetrator parted ways. This has drastically changed with the sporadic advancement of cyber technology, resulting in bullying happening anywhere and at any time through “cyberbullying”. Bullying has also been deemed a leading cause of su***de cases, leading to the new term “bullycide”.
57% of South African children claim to be victims of Bullying at school.
According to a recent UNESCO study/publication, Behind the Numbers: Ending School Violence and Bullying, globally, almost one in three students (32%) has been bullied by their peers at school at least once in the last month, and a similar proportion are affected by physical violence, according to the publication.
The reason behind the development of the BullyBusters program was the fact that Bullying has become a huge problem among school children and has far-reaching effects on a child’s psyche and emotional well-being. The programme aims to empower children to become resilient against Bullying. It is focussed on the “Bullies”, “Bystanders” and “Victims of Bullying”.
🔵The short-term and long-term psychological and for victims of such severe, ritualistic bullying:
There are many negative effects of bullying for all parties involved, namely the victim (bullied), the perpetrator (bully) and the witnesses (bystanders). Even witnessing or hearing about a bullying event can be traumatising.
The most common short-term effects (symptoms) we see with those exposed to bullying, either as a victim or witness, are:
▶️Generalised fear (that activates the fight-flight response)
▶️Hypervigilance (being ready for the next attack)
▶️Panic attacks
▶️Irritability
▶️Sleep disturbances and nightmares
▶️Psychosomatic symptoms like stomach aches, headaches and nausea
▶️Poor concentration (in comparison to previous functioning)
▶️Decline in academic performance
▶️School avoidance/absenteeism
▶️Separation anxiety (wanting to remain close to parents or other safe adults)
▶️Extreme feelings of helplessness and hopelessness (due to feeling overpowered by the trauma)
▶️Poor self-esteem
The most common long-term effects we see with those exposed to bullying, either as a victim or witness, are:
▶️Anxiety disorders
▶️Major depression
▶️Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
▶️Poor academic performance
▶️School drop-out
▶️Carrying a weapon
▶️Substance abuse
▶️Self-harm
▶️Suicidal ideation
▶️Suicide attempts (and successful su***de)
🔵The legal and ethical responsibilities of schools in preventing and responding to such organised violence:
The South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 (SASA) mandates schools to have a bullying policy or at least refer to the management of bullying in their code of conduct. This policy should clearly (i) define what bullying is, as well as (ii) describe the procedures to follow when bullying is suspected or reported, and state (iii) the consequences for bullying. It is advised that consequences include both punitive and rehabilitative measures.
SASA Section 8 highlights the important role of schools in providing safe learning environments. The National Department of Basic Education’s (DoE) School Safety Framework aims to develop and maintain safe and violence-free learning environments for all learners. Schools thus have a legal duty of care to learners, and failure to prevent or adequately respond to bullying may result in legal liability for schools.
The above information is clearly stated and available in a document co-written by the DoE and the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention in 2012: Addressing Bullying in (see references).
Common law further states that schools act as loco parentis for learners, meaning that they are expected to give the same level of care and protection as a reasonable parent would. This could include providing adequate adult supervision, having policies in place and consistently applying them and diligent reporting of and responding to knowledge of bullying.
Bullying becomes a criminal issue when actions escalate from rude to criminal, which includes threats (words, actions or gestures), physically hitting someone, physically or sexually attacking someone, or using a weapon. These actions could lead to suspension or expulsion from a school or transfer to another school. It may also lead to both civil and criminal prosecution. The Protection from Act 17 of 2011 provides for the possibility of acquiring a protection order against those victimising them.
The Child Justice Act 75 of 2005 and its amendment Act 28 of 2019 state that the minimum age of criminal capacity is 14 years and older. This means that a learner of this age may be prosecuted by law, but the focus remains rehabilitative and restorative. Between the ages of 12-14 years, children are presumed to lack criminal capacity, and they are assessed to determine the specific child’s ability to understand their actions and the consequences thereof. Learners under 12 years are seen as without criminal capacity and are usually referred to probation officers. For these learners, interventions like counselling or anger management are advised. Diversion programmes away from formal criminal proceedings, like community service or victim-offender mediation, can be considered.
🔵Broader societal issues that may contribute to such violent behaviour among pupils:
At its core, bullying is a social or societal issue. Here are some factors contributing to bullying and other amongst youth, specifically in South Africa:
▶️Normalised violence: In many communities, substance abuse and gangsterism are the order of the day. Youth either behave in ways they see modelled or become so desensitised to violence that it is seen as “normal”. Violent computer games and other violent content seen in movies or on news bulletins can also desensitise youth to violence.
▶️Socio-economic disparities & poverty can create stress and frustration, leading to aggressive and violent behaviour.
▶️Lack of adequate resources, like not having policies in place to address this behaviour in schools or the inconsistent application thereof, could contribute to aggressive and violent behaviour of youth. Inadequate adult supervision on school grounds or security/surveillance cameras could also make monitoring and addressing this behaviour more difficult.
▶️Lack of adequate support systems could lead to youth feeling that they have nowhere else to turn. This includes mental health support to address possible root causes of aggressive behaviour, as well as a lack of parental involvement and support.
▶️Lack of awareness about bullying and the seriousness of its effects on public health, as well as mental health, can cause youth to view it as normal and trivial. Comments by uninformed adults like “it’s a rite of passage” or “a normal part of growing up” contribute to these myths.
▶️Racism and other prejudices, and a lack of a sense of fair treatment, can lead to underlying frustration and aggressive behaviour.
🔵Effective interventions and support systems for both the victims and the perpetrators:
The South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 (SASA) established a framework for school governance and learner discipline. The law requires schools to have bullying policies in place. The problem often lies with the consistent application thereof.
Dan Olweus is seen as the pioneer in research on school bullying as well as the development of programmes to address school bullying. His work started in the Scandinavian countries in the 1970s and later also expanded to the United States.
According to research, the most effective way to address school bullying is whole school campaigns, ensuring that all the stakeholders are involved and receive the same training and information on bullying and its management. Thus, educators as well as other school staff, parents and learners are included. Bottom-up approaches, where only the victim or bully is addressed, are often futile. Top-down approaches where school governance, staff, parents and learners are actively involved are essential.
A multi-tiered approach is recommended:
Level 1️⃣
▶️Activities where the whole school is involved, like talks during assembly, parent evenings, and staff empowerment sessions, where general information is shared about bullying and the school’s specific procedures to prevent, report and address it. Training on bullying is NOT a ONCE OFF event but should be done annually.
▶️Information on topics like bullying, , conflict resolution and being a good friend can be integrated into the school curriculum to reach all learners. An example could be writing an essay about “An act of kindness” or reading a book that has an underlying theme of bullying for First Language, etc.
▶️Building and maintaining good relationships between learners and educators to facilitate open channels of reporting bullying or easier identification of bullying.
▶️Continuous modelling of healthy conflict management, assertiveness and by educators and other adults (staff, parents).
Level 2️⃣
▶️Learners identified as “at risk” for either being the victim or bully can take part in intervention programmes like group counselling, where and management or healthy are taught and developed.
Level 3️⃣
▶️Individual support for all identified learners (victim and bully)
▶️This includes and to address the root causes of bullying and/or core symptoms experienced by victims/witnesses.
▶️It can also include addressing possible underlying causes of bullying behaviour (as mentioned in the previous section – societal contributing factors)
🔵Conclusion
Child and Adolescent psychiatrist Dr Jorge Srabstein described bullying as a risk in his recently published book, Bullying, Impact on Health, and Beyond: Exploring the Spectrum of Maltreatment (2024).
We cannot turn a blind eye to the and severe consequences of bullying on individuals and society.
We need to do better!
📍 Find us/Stay connected
📨 marele@i2we.co.za
📨 marele@bullybusters.co.za
💻 www.i2we.co.za
i2we
https://www.facebook.com/i2wetherapy/
BullyBusters
https://www.facebook.com/BullyBustersSA/
📱 0823715467
🔗Link to above article and references
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RTVRbR6d4jwGab_n3_bbIQWBoKqCiUrR/view?usp=drivesdk
Link to interview on Newzroom Afrika
https://youtu.be/1yAVuYs8eGg?si=bVBzba-BGgKoeAAX
