For the first time in four decades, Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has shaved his head — and he's done it for a reason.

“I was advised to shave my head to dispel the bad spell the department is going through. For the first time in 40 years, today I shaved my head. I hope it works,” Lesufi said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Since the start of the 2020 academic year, the Gauteng education department has been rocked by the deaths of several pupils and teachers.

On Monday morning, two girls, aged six and 10, were killed when the minibus taxi they were travelling in was involved in an accident in the Olifantsfontein area. Seventeen other pupils were injured and taken to hospital.

Their deaths brought to 14 the number of pupils from the province who have died in tragic incidents since the beginning of the year.

They include Enock Mpianzi, a Parktown Boys' High School pupil who died on the first day of school at a grade 8 orientation camp.

On Sunday, Kelebogile Molopyane, a grade 10 pupil who fell to his death from the second-floor balcony of Ferndale High School last Monday after a seizure, was laid to rest.

During Molopyane's memorial service on Friday, Lesufi said the deaths of these pupils had taken an emotional toll on him.