A warrant of arrest has been issued for 12 matric boys and three hostel teachers of Parktown Boys' High School.
Senior prosecutor at the Hillbrow Magistrate's Court John Metswanere issued the warrant yesterday, three months after an initiation ceremony at the school was uncovered by the mother of a Grade 11 pupil.
The warrant has been issued for assault to do grievous bodily harm.
This morning police were at the school to make the arrests. Many of the boys are minors.
In February Pene Kimber spoke out about the initiation her son went through at the school's hostel, Druce Hall.
The Grade 11 boys in the hostel were lined up naked in the middle of the night by 11 matrics.
They were made to put Deep Heat on their genitals and got smacked on their backsides with cricket bats, hockey sticks and golf clubs by each of the matrics. Then the head boy whipped the boys with a cricket bat until he drew blood.
Kimber was horrified when she saw her son's bruises that weekend and spoke out about what happened. After speaking out, she received threatening calls, and laid a charge of assault and harassment.
Kimber said she called yesterday to find out what had happened with her case, as it had been three months and she had not heard anything.
"The investigating officer said he had given the papers to the prosecutor.
"When I called him, he said he would look for it. Then I got a call to say he had filled in warrants for the arrest of the boys and three teachers," said Kimber.
"I feel relieved that something is finally being done. What has been happening at that school needs to be sorted out.
"These attacks have been going on for too long now. So many parents have called me with similar stories about what has happened to their sons."
Kimber said that when she got the call yesterday it brought back memories of a very stressful time in her life and she was nervous - but ready for the reaction the arrests would spark.
When The Star broke the story in February, hundreds of parents came forward telling similar stories of the initiation tradition at the school.
It was the first time in many years that these events came out in public as the boys are always told to keep what happened among themselves.
Many fathers defended the act of initiation, believing it built character, while others told stories of how similar assaults had damaged them for life.
One mother called The Star and revealed a few years after a similar initiation at the school, her son killed himself, never recovering from the ceremony.
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