Footage of a boy violently attacking a teacher at a South African high school has led to government calls for the youngster to be punished.

A video posted on YouTube shows the student kicking and hitting the male teacher with a broom in a classroom of the Glenvista school in Johannesburg.

Other pupils can be heard cheering, laughing and egging the boy on during the assault, which reportedly happened on Wednesday. "Get him," one boy is heard saying.

The teacher is seen walking away from his attacker and leaving the building, but the pupil - still armed with the broom - follows him into the street.

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga said she was "disturbed" by the attack. She has called for the boy and those cheering him on to be punished.

"This incident must be condemned in the strongest possible terms and the relevant punishment must be met out," she said.

"The student responsible together with the other learners who were cheering him on should all be disciplined accordingly."

Minister Angie Motshekga has condemned the incident "in the strongest possible terms"

Mrs. Motshekga has recommended that anyone who was there during the attack receive trauma counselling. She said such violence would "not be tolerated" by either pupils or teachers in South African schools.

"Schools should remain a no-violence zone where educators and learners can feel safe and secure in order for teaching and learning to take place," she said.

The attack comes as South African police unveiled crime statistics which lobby groups say are the worst in a decade. The figures showed increases in some of the crimes that most frighten and upset South Africans.

Murder and attempted murder rates were both up - albeit minimally (0.6% and 6.5%) despite a decline over the past nine years - and car-jacking is up alongside residential robberies (2% and 3.6% respectively).

The statistics prompted criticism from Gareth Newman at the Institute of Security Studies (ISS), who said "This shows that government’s approach to crime is not working."

But the police took a different view, saying the statistics showed that police interventions were having the desired results, although there was still a long way to go to rid South Africa of crime.

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