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Bullied learners can become suicidal: What needs to be done to stop bullying in schools?

26 April 2021 | Story Dr Emmanuel Mayeza

Opinion article by Dr Emmanuel Mayeza, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of the Free State

On Monday 12 April 2021, Lufuno Mavhunga, a 15-year-old female learner at Mbilwi Secondary School in Limpopo, South Africa, was aggressively assaulted by another learner at school. The video showing the humiliating violent attack was circulated on various social media platforms. Sadly, Lufuno subsequently died as a result of suicide. During the bullying incident, bystanders (her school mates) watched, cheered, laughed, and recorded videos of the incident. The alleged perpetrator (another 14-year-old female learner at the same school) has since been arrested by the police and charged with assault. The school will institute disciplinary action against the bystanders who failed to assist and protect Lufuno. Lufuno’s family, however, believes that the school did not do enough to support Lufuno after the incident was reported to the school principal.

The victimisation of Lufuno could have been prevented, and I will show in this article what can be done to stop and prevent bullying in South African schools.

Suicide: the ultimate consequence of being bullied at school

Lufuno’s victimisation and her tragic death highlight the scourge, as well as the seriousness, of the problem of bullying in South African schools. School-based bullying has various consequences for everyone at school, but victims often incur the most devastation from bullying. The consequences of being bullied at school include the development of psychological and emotional problems such as distress, damaged self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. If these problems are not addressed timeously or appropriately, it could ultimately result in suicide. Although Lufuno’s victimisation was reported to the school authorities, the deceased young victim did not receive any professional psychological counselling following the traumatic experiences of being bullied and the video of this incident being shared on social media. It seems that the victim dealt with the bullying mostly by herself and that the people who knew about the bullying did not take her ordeal and anxieties seriously enough.

Bullying is gendered and complex: Girls as victims and as bullies

Bullying is a form of gender violence. It is based on the asymmetrical relations of power that are prevalent in our patriarchal society. The key feature of such relations is men and boys assuming authority, domination, and control through violence against girls, women, and femininities. However, Lufuno’s victimisation draws our attention to the complexities of bullying and gender power relations among learners at school. Although boys and men often emerge as perpetrators of violence against girls and women, bullying in schools is a complex issue and girls are not always the passive victims of male violence. Both girls and boys can become victims and bullies. Bullying is an expression of power, and girls too are capable of expressing power through forms of violence against other girls and against some boys. Indeed, a recent study on bullying among learners in a South African primary school highlights the vulnerability of younger boys to violence perpetrated by older girls at school ( https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v41n1a1858 ). Therefore, we must acknowledge that the victimisation of Lufuno by another girl is not something unique. Gender relations are dynamic, and we can see that girls too have learnt how to use violence to express power and to claim dominance over other learners in schools.

What needs to be done to stop and prevent school-based bullying?

While the processes of the criminal justice system regarding Lufuno’s victimisation are underway, effective prevention programmes are also required in order to stop bullying at school. Such programmes must be designed with the view to empower everyone at school with skills and knowledge on how to prevent bullying from happening, and how to react appropriately when bullying is witnessed or reported. To end bullying, the school should consider addressing bystanders, improving the availability of professional support services to victims of bullying, re-thinking the curriculum, and establishing stronger partnerships with other stakeholders.

All learners at the school must be addressed in terms of the roles that they can play as active bystanders who are committed to ending bullying. Bystanders must be empowered so that they know what bullying constitutes and are able to see when bullying happens and know how to intervene appropriately to stop it and protect the victim. They must know the seriousness of bullying and its consequences, and that this includes suicide. Bystanders must understand that posting a video or a photo on social media showing someone being abused is in itself also a form of bullying. Bystanders must be informed that they have a responsibility to report any form of bullying they witness at school to the school authorities or to their parents or guardians.

When learners have reported bullying, school authorities need to take the reported incident seriously and act appropriately, especially in terms of supporting the victim. To reduce the risk of victims committing suicide, professional psychological counselling support must be offered to the victims without delay. However, the risk of committing suicide among victims of bullying can only be significantly reduced if proper resources and victim support services are available at the school. The lack of such resources and services at Mbilwi Secondary School presents a major risk for victims to resort to suicide.

The school should also explore possibilities of developing learning programmes that will foreground bullying and raise awareness about this serious issue. Such programmes should be compulsory for all learners and must be designed to encourage learners to speak out about their experiences, perceptions, and anxieties around bullying. Consequences of bullying and what needs to be done to stop and prevent school-based bullying should also form part of the topics for discussion within such learning programmes.

However, the school cannot be successful in its efforts towards ending bullying if it acts alone. The violent behaviour that learners demonstrate at school reflects, to a large extent, the normalised violence within households and communities. The school, therefore, must form strong partnerships with parents, communities, government, religious institutions, and other relevant stakeholders to explore effective ways of addressing bullying at school. The school must engage productively with these different stakeholders, and such engagements should also include learners’ voices and perspectives on the issue of bullying and how to end it.

News Archive

UFS Winter Graduation Ceremony

2012-06-18

UFS awards record number of master’s degrees and doctorates

The University of the Free State (UFS) celebrated an increase in postgraduate successes with a record number of master’s degrees and doctorates that were awarded during the winter graduation ceremony at the Bloemfontein campus on Thursday 14 June 2012.

A total of 481 master’s degrees and 82 doctorates were awarded in two ceremonies in the Callie Human Centre on the Bloemfontein Campus. This is the most postgraduate qualifications to be awarded at a single graduation ceremony.

DiMTEC has reason to celebrate

Dr Andries Jordaan (second from right) with some of the people who received their master's degrees. From the left are Kehinde Balogun, the couple Olive Chisola-Darris en Clement West Darris, and the couple Everson Ndlovu en Patience Sibongile Ndlovu.
Photo: Leatitia Pienaar
18 June 2012

DiMTEC had reason to celebrate at the winter graduation ceremony. The Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa delivered a healthy crop of 32 master’s degrees and one doctorate.

This was the most master’s degrees that the centre has been awarded at one opportunity. The doctorate, however, was not at DiMTEC – Andries Jordaan, the director of the centre, obtained his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economy.

It was also the first time that two couples received their master’s degrees at the centre at the same time.

Speaking at the event, Dr Jordaan said former students of the centre were using their expertise worldwide. Some of them are in senior positions at the United Nations, in African countries, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. DiMTEC’s students hail from 17 African countries, including French-speaking countries.

“I am proud that we have a footprint right across Africa,” he said.

Three travel all the way from Europe for their MBAs

Smiles on an important day. From the left are: Kasina Baker, Friederike Hackelberg, and Johanna Kössler and her parents and sister.
Photo: Stephen Collett
18 June 2012

No distance, time or money could prevent three MBA graduates from Europe from attending the winter graduation ceremony in Bloemfontein. Two of them were exchange students who were so captivated by the university and the country that they undertook their MBA studies at the Business School.

Friederike Hackelberg of Bremen, Germany, was an exchange student in 2008 and extended her stay to do an MBA. Johanna Kössler of Bolzano, Italy, was also an exchange student who succumbed to the charms of the UFS and South Africa. She brought her parents, George and Nannie, and her sister, Magdalena, with her to attend the graduation ceremony.

Kasina Baker of Warsaw, Poland, began her studies while her husband was working in Kenya. She wanted to study at a quality institution and thus chose the UFS's Business School.

Jessica gets three prestigious medals

Jessica Potgieter (right) was the first student in almost three decades to receive three prestigious medals at the Winter Graduation Ceremony. She received the Dean's medal as best Master's student in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, the Senate Medal as best Master's student at the university and the Award for Scientific Achievement by the South African Association for the Advancement of Science. She is seen here with her mother, Mrs Ilse van Rhyn, and Dr Khotso Mokhele, Chancellor.
Photo: Johan Roux
18 June 2012

Three daughters, three degrees for proud Kovsie mom

Liezel Alsemgeest and Adri Kotzé.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs
18 June 2012

Adri Kotzé, Faculty Manager in the Faculty of Law, is a very proud parent. In the course of one year, all three her daughters will receive degrees from the University of the Free State (UFS). First in line is the eldest, who received her Ph.D. in Business Management at the Winter Graduation Ceremony.

Liezel is a lecturer in the Department of Business Management at the UFS, where she lectures, publishes and hopes to further her research in finance. “I enjoy working at the university because you have the freedom to do your own thing and focus on whatever you like,” she says.

The title of Liezel’s thesis is Customers’ perception of business units within an agricultural business in South Africa. Her focus is on the subjects of customer satisfaction and financial management, with a specific focus on the management of agricultural businesses.

Middle sister Corné will be graduating with a master’s degree in Occupational Therapy in December, while the youngest, Adéle, will receive her B.A. in Media Studies and Journalism at the Autumn Graduation Ceremony in 2013.

“I am very proud of all three my daughters,” says Adri.

Sasolburg minister receives Dean's Medal for best master's degree in Theology

Rev. Frans Redelinghuys.
18 June 2012

Rev. Frans Redelinghuys of the Reformed Church in Sasolburg received his master’s degree in Theology at the University of the Free State’s Winter Graduation Ceremony. Rev. Redelinghuys was also awarded the Dean’s Medal as the best master’s degree student in the Faculty of Theology.

The focus of his dissertation is Spirituality. “My lecturers are all people who practice what they preach and they have shared their knowledge with me.,” he says.

“My studies also contributed to my personal development,” says Rev. Redelinghuys.

Student from the Netherlands receives degree at UFS Winter Graduation Ceremony

Deborah Van den Bosch-Heij.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs
18 June 2012

Deborah Van den Bosch-Heij from the Netherlands was awarded a Ph.D. at the Winter Graduation Ceremony by the Faculty of Theology of the University of the Free State (UFS). Her thesis, Spirit and healing in Africa: A reformed pneumatological perspective, is an interdisciplinary investigation of the relationship between the Holy Spirit and healing in Southern Africa. The research addresses the need for a reviewed and contextually reformed approached to healing.

Deborah started her career as a minister at the Valkenburg Congregation of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands in 2001. She was appointed by the missionary department of her church to lecture at the Justo Mwale Theological University College in Lusaka, Zambia in 2005. It was here that she decided on the topic of her thesis. Prof. Rian Venter from the Department of Systematic Theology at the UFS, who is also involved at the Justo Mwale College, is Deborah’s promoter and assisted her in her studies whilst she was in the Netherlands. It was also Prof. Venter who made Deborah aware of the importance of interdisciplinary research.

Well-known judge's granddaughter receives degree

Judge Joos Hefer and Annelie de Man.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

Annelie de Man, a law researcher at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein received her master’s degree at the Winter Graduation Ceremony of the University of the Free State (UFS). She is Judge Joos Hefer’s granddaughter. Annelie was also awarded the Dean’s Medal as the best master’s degree student in the Faculty of Law.

“Today is one of the biggest highlights in my career,” says Annelie, who received exposure to the field of law from a young age.

In September, she will be leaving for Italy to study for a master’s degree in European Human Rights at the European Inter University.

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