Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi on Monday visited the Tsakane Secondary School in Ekurhuleni to establish what could have led to the death of a grade 10 pupil on Tuesday last week.
The MEC also paid his condolences to the family of the deceased boy, a pupil at Reshogofaditswe Secondary School, which is also in Tsakane.
Lesufi, who was informed of the boy’s death by a member of the family, said according to a report from Tsakane Secondary, the deceased arrived at their premises to claim back his stolen cellphone.
Lesufi told the media: “I came today to ask the school for a full report and to bring it to the family. The family is rejecting the report from the [Tsakane Secondary] school. They feel there’s lots of unexplained things.
“The school said a learner, who was not [registered] at the school, claimed there was a fight over the weekend and someone took cash and their cellphones, and that he was there to retrieve it. The school retrieved the school bag and established that he was not a student [there]. They called the principal of his school [Reshogofaditswe Secondary] to tell them what happened.
He continued: “And the other day the said learner, with what now we can confirm was a toy gun, came back to the school to defend himself against the people who had taken his cellphone.
“There was a scuffle where a teacher and general assistant were trying to retrieve the gun. But the family is of the strong view that during the process, their child was seriously harmed and attacked using a golf stick and other things. On that basis, they believe that’s where the injury came from.
“The school said they handed the boy to the police without injury.”
During his visit to the family, Lesufi promised that his department would follow up with the police to establish the state that the deceased was left in.
“It’s a sorry state of affairs. We’ll appoint an independent person to get the necessary evidence,” he said.
He also not his concern because teaching and learning had not been taking place over the last few weeks due to other problems.
“This incident has now fueled the non-attendance. I’m coming back on Wednesday to convene a meeting with the parents and to ask them to convince their children to go back to school.
“This district performed badly last year. We want to encourage parents to discourage disruptions in schools.”
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