Shootings at two schools in Gauteng, the largest province in South Africa, on Tuesday claimed the lives of a principal and a youth.

Police spokesman Sergeant Richard Munyai said that the woman principal was shot dead in Soweto and a pupil was arrested for allegedly killing a youth in Pretoria.

Nthabiseng Nkoni, the 49-year-old principal of Asha Pre-School in Mapetla, Soweto, was shot dead in her office. Munyai said police were searching for the principal's husband in connection with the killing.

In the second incident, a 17-year-old schoolboy allegedly shot dead 18-year-old Marcel Davis outside a school in Eersterus, said Pretoria police spokesman Captain Piletji Sebola.

The two were arguing in an open space near the school when the pupil allegedly fired several shots at the apparently unarmed Davis.

Police arrested the pupil at his brother's business.