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Eleven-year-old Thando van Rooyen went to school on Monday morning. That afternoon he was dead, electrocuted by an electric fence and suffocated when his head became wedged between the green bars of a palisade barrier fence.
He and his cousin were waiting for their lift home when they apparently climbed up onto a wall to watch fish in a pond in the garden of a house opposite their school, Laudium Heights Primary.
His family are trying to piece together what happened, but the cousin, 13, is in shock.
It is understood that the two children climbed onto the low wall and grabbed hold of the palisade fence to look at the fish in the garden.
But Thando seems to have lost his footing and, reaching up, grabbed hold of the fence – a live high-voltage electric fence positioned above the devil’s-fork palisade.
He slipped, his head wedged between the bars, and there he died an agonising death, his cousin helplessly looking on.
Now his parents are demanding action, laying the blame for their child’s death on the school and the city.
Thando’s father, George Majola,
said: “I loved my boy. I loved him so much. He was my first-born child and was my everything. He was an absolute genius at school and had so much respect for people.
“Even though he was so young, he was very respectful, especially of his elders. He loved his family and his friends and had big dreams for himself,” said Majola. He also said Thando loved playing and watching soccer.
Majola said that for years he had urged the school to improve safety, especially after classes were over.
“Their attitude is that once classes are over and the gates are open, the children are no longer their responsibility, but this is wrong. They have a duty to protect our children,” said Majola, who claimed that it was not the first time a child had died outside the school.
“I want the school and this city to take responsibility. I want them to ensure that all our children are safe both during and after school,” he said, fighting back tears and describing the last hug he had received from Thando.
“I will never forget that hug. I will never forget the moment as long as I live,” he said.
Laudium Heights Primary principal Manzoor Allimia said it had been him and not Majola who had been making appeals to the authorities to increase safety measures for children in the area.
“I have made appeals to everyone, from the police and metro police to the health and education authorities.
“I have even gone to our ward councillor, Farouk Essop, who has said there are 40 school safety patrollers who have been trained, but they cannot be deployed because a signature is required on a specific document,” he said.
Essop said he had made applications to the metro police for extra patrollers between July and September, “which I followed up with e-mails to safety and security MMC Terance Mashego every month.
“I have been promised that these patrollers will be distributed soon, but I do not know how soon soon is.
“Although I will continue to assist the community, this matter is no longer in my hands,” he said.
An apologetic Mashego promised to look into the matter today.
“The moment I step into my office I will address this immediately.
“I want to assure the public that we are serious about children’s safety, and one death is too many.
“I will do everything in my power to ensure extra patrollers are deployed to the schools as soon as possible,” he said. - Pretoria News
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anno, wrote
the school, like some gov. schools have gates that lock during school hours after school parents pick the kids up by the gates. kids still waiting for perants are kept in the school yeards and monitored by the teacher on duty and prefectsmonitors...perants that take their time to collect their kids gets charged per hour and soon the perants will start collecting their kids on time.
Anonymous, wrote
I mean really, that parents expect teachers to look after their kids after and outside of school. Ridiculous - the parents want a supervisor, employ one at own cost. How could a teacher (or a few teachers) watch over 1000 kids all running in different directions after school and outside the grounds - ludicrous.
eish, wrote
Tebsa, wrote
Yaa, yep yep yep, just because it is a black child dead, you reat like this. How do you expect parent to come fetch their kids from school if employers give them 30MIn lunch or non at all. most dont even have cars. Lets be sensitive and think before we write nonsence while other people are mourning the death of their kid. Sis man
Tebsa, wrote
Yaa, yep yep yep, just because it is a black child dead, you reat like this. How do you expect parent to come fetch their kids from school if employers give them 30MIn lunch or non at all. most dont even have cars. Lets be sensitive and think before we write nonsence while other people are mourning the death of their kid. Sis man
Anonymous, wrote
Boys will always be boys and at that age curiosity overrides everything, I feel for the young boy and his family in this time of grief.
Young Thugs, wrote
Anonymous, wrote
Wake up Dad! When the bell rings at the end of the day they become your responsibility once again. Stop trying to lay the blame on the school. I do feel your sad loss though, GOD BLESS YOUR FAMILY!
Karen, wrote
@Anonymous 2:28pm - The police and school must come together to solve this!? Then you ask the Ward Councillor, Principal etc to imagine how they would feel if this was their child!? What about the parents? They are the ones responsible for leaving their child unattended - its is ridiculous to expect somebody else to take responsibility. If they had not been late and had made sure their child was fetched from school on time this would not have happened. They were irresposnible and their child paid the price. Its nobody elses fault but their own. I'm sure they are very sad and deeply regret their negligence, but don't try and blame somebody else for it.
Anonymous, wrote
Condolences to the family but the school cannot be held liable for what happens outside of school property and school hours.
Anonymous, wrote
Lets get things straight here - after school hours the school is not responsible for the kids once they leave the school grounds. The school is not daycare. However in terms of this incident - kids need to be under care and supervision so that these things never ever happen. Let the police and school come together to solve this. To the minister, principal, ward couciler - how would you react if this was your child???
MitchH, wrote
This is pathetic! People will always look for someone to blame rather than looking at themselves. Instead of blaming the school think of what would've happened if their lift home was on time. They would've walked straight to the car and gone home. Look at yourself Mr. Majola. Trying to place the blame elsewhere is pathetic!
Polti, wrote
The only one to blame for this horrible death is our government. I bet before 1994 there wasn't a wall with an electric fence.
Cynic, wrote
Karen, wrote
Another sad story of a child dying through the negligence of others. I know that the parents of this child must feel distraught, but I'm afraid the only place they should be looking when trying to find somebody to blame is in the mirror. All schools will do their best to protect the children while they are in their care, but they cannopt be held responsible for the children all the time. When the end of day bell rings and the children leave they once again become the responsibility of the parents. If the parents are not there to pick the children up and have not arranged for somebody to do this duty for them they cannot turn around and blame somebody else. We do not want a nanny state where we take no responsibility for anything and always blame somebody else for not taking care of us and protecting us from ourselves.
Rabbit, wrote
This poor family, to lose a child like that is unacceptable. I do agree with the father, the child is the school's responsibility. The security and safety in and around the school is the school's responsibility and they should accept same. Also at the end of the day, who cares who applied to the authorities for increased safety. Help this poor family and prevent this kind of thing from happening again.
Anonymous, wrote
Y did Majola leave his child and cousin waiting for a lift home, if he loved him so much he should have been there to collect them on time, not leave them standing. He cannot blame the school, he must blame himself. It is time parents stopped blaming everyone else for their short comings, it is not the schools fault or the governments it is the parents, they must be held accountable. Also Majola, maybe it was his time? God does call us when he wants us not when we decide it is time.
Anonymous, wrote
Majozi, wrote
I feel so sad for the little boy and feel sorry for his parents.What I dont agree with is the father trying now to put the blame on others.Although so painful,the boy himself is to be blamed,he shouldn`t have climbed on other people`s property,even for watching fish.
Anonymous, wrote
This is sad to have a child die so young but, you cant shift the blame onto the school or the city. In this day and age its unsafe to leave children waiting for lifts, the person collecting the children should be there when they come out of school and on another note the children shouldn't have been climbing on someone else's wallproperty.... just a thought!
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