He was no bully – aunt

Tiro Ramatlhatse

LAST RESPECTS: A family member preaches during Nkululeko Ndlovus funeral at Nguni hall in Vosloorus, the teenager was gunned down by another student at the Phineas Xulu Secondary School during the week. Picture: Tiro Ramatlhatse

NONTOBEKO MTSHALI

nontobeko.mtshali@inl.co.za

“SLEEP well my son. With all that’s happened, with all that’s been said, we place you in God’s hands.”

With these words Zandi Dzingwa bid farewell to her nephew Nkululeko Ndlovu, 18, at his funeral in Vosloorus at the weekend.

Ndlovu, who was a Grade 10 pupil, was shot at his school, Phineas Xulu Secondary, last week allegedly by a fellow pupil.

His alleged killer, an 18-year-old Grade 11 pupil, allegedly used the service pistol of his mother, a constable at the Vosloorus police station. It’s alleged that Ndlovu and another group of pupils had pelted the teenager with stones the previous day, and robbed him of his cellphone and clothes.

The boy is now facing charges of murder, theft and the possession of an unlicensed firearm.

Dzingwa, like other members of Ndlovu’s family, maintained that Ndlovu was not a bully.

She lashed out at the media, saying they were only telling one side of the story and accused the press of using Ndlovu’s name to boost newspaper sales.

“The [Gauteng Education] MEC [Barbara Creecy] only knows one side of the story, which is that he [Nkululeko] bullied everyone. How can [Nkululeko] bully the whole school? If that were the case why weren’t we called in as his family? We’re hearing it for the first time that he was a bully,” she said.

Dzingwa also took a swipe at the school’s governing body, whose representative was scheduled to speak at the funeral but didn’t pitch, saying as a body meant to foster parental involvement in the school’s affairs, it had failed.

Prudence Molefe, a teacher at Phineas Xulu Secondary, spoke on behalf of the school’s principal who could not attend the funeral.

Facing Ndlovu’s family and his mother, Molefe apologised for the teachers who spoke ill of the teenager after his death.

“No child is perfect.

“It’s not right for parents to take their children to school and fetch them as corpses,” she said.

Molefe said she knew the pain the family was going through because her sister’s child died after being shot at his school.

She pointed out that violence was a problem the world over.

“The issue is what are you and I doing about it? What are we doing as a nation?”

The boy accused of shooting Ndlovu will be back in court on Thursday for a formal bail application.