No excuse can possibly justify how a phalanx of South African Police Service officers stormed a classroom in Mpumalanga and shot dead an innocent pupil in front of his classmates.

No excuse can possibly justify how a phalanx of South African Police Service officers stormed a classroom in Mpumalanga and shot dead an innocent pupil in front of his classmates.

The cops say they were seeking two classmates who were reported to possess a gun. But they found nothing.

And nothing can excuse the activities of the heavily-armed squad that raided the school, burst in on the class and then shot at pupils fleeing in terror.

Clearly at no time did the petrified kids pose the slightest danger to the officers, who fired at the school-children's backs as they fled.

Even after killing 17-year-old Sedi Khoza the cops felt so arrogantly secure that they assaulted a classmate they were seeking in full view of the pupils before tossing him into the back of a police van, the kids say.

We demand an immediate investigation of this outrage. The shooters and their commanders must be suspended immediately and subjected to the full might of the law.

Sowetan supports the right of officers to defend themselves in shootouts with thugs. And maybe the kids showed poor judgment fleeing the armed horde.

But no one can justify the poor judgment and contempt for the law these bullies in blue demonstrated. South Africa deserves answers now.