Middelburg – Siphamandla Choma, the 14-year-old schoolboy who was hospitalised after he was beaten up allegedly by his headmaster for stealing R150, has died.
The Mpumalanga Department of Health on Monday said it can confirm that "one of our patients, a 14-year-old boy who was admitted in Middelburg Hospital following an alleged beating by a school Principal for allegedly stealing R150 has passed on".
The Middelburg principal accused of beating the boy was charged with misconduct and made his first appearance at the disciplinary hearing on Friday. The teenager, who was left paralysed after the brutal beating, died in hospital on Sunday evening.
The provincial department of health said it will conduct a postmortem to determine the "real cause of death".
The Mpumalanga Department of Education said it received "the sad news with shock as Siphamandla Choma was one of our learners from Manyano Primary School in the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality".
The MEC for Education Reginah Mhaule and MEC for Health Gillion Mashego conveyed their "sincere condolences to the family, the school and to everyone who is affected by this sad development".