Johannesburg - Pupils at an Ekurhuleni school burst out laughing, thinking their classmate was pulling a prank on them as she lay on the floor, shaking violently.
Lerato Malekutu, a Grade 12 pupil at Eden Park Secondary School, was about to sit when her classmate allegedly pulled the chair from under her.
The Thokoza teenager fell, hitting the back of her head on the floor.
As Lerato, 17, trembled, battled to breathe and her eyes rolled back into their sockets, some of her classmate thought she was pretending to be hurt, and they laughed.
A pupil who was in the classroom at the time said the girl who pulled the chair away also laughed, went to her desk and sat down.
“She has always had fits,” was among the comments reported to have been made.
However, when Lerato remained on the floor, panic set in.
“The girl who had pulled Lerato’s chair became scared. There was chaos in the classroom as people tried to revive Lerato,” the pupil said.
Lerato was moved to the sickbay. Paramedics were called in and declared her dead.
It has been alleged that the two schoolgirls had an argument earlier, which continued later in class when the teacher wasn’t there.
“The girl pushed Lerato. Lerato told her that she does not want to fight. She was about to sit down when the girl pulled the chair and she fell,” another pupil told The Star on Wednesday.
For Tracy Khumalo, it was déjà vu when she received news that her niece had collapsed at school and died.
Fifteen years ago, Khumalo’s sister collapsed at church and died, leaving her then 2-year-old daughter Lerato behind.
On Monday, Khumalo rushed to the school after being told that Lerato had been in an accident.
She was told that Lerato had collapsed in the classroom and died.
Khumalo went to the sickbay and found that a no entry sign had been placed on the door.
Lerato was lying on a bed, covered with a sheet. The back of her neck had turned black.
A few years ago, one of Lerato’s front teeth had been knocked out when she fell while playing.
Khumalo had replaced the tooth, but the force of the impact appeared to have knocked it out. The tooth was not there when she looked at the dead child.
She couldn’t stop crying for two days.
“When I asked the principal what happened, she said Lerato just fell,” said Khumalo.
Lerato’s family said they werein the dark about what had happened.
Her uncle Thembela Malekutu said a teacher had told him that Lerato fell.
Then a police officer at the scene told him that Lerato argued with a classmate. He said that when Lerato tried to sit, the girl pulled the chair way. She fell and within moments was dead.
The girl who allegedly pulled the chair is Lerato’s neighbour.
Her family have since moved her out of the neighbourhood.
Lerato’s father, John Khambule, said that if the incident had been a mistake, the teenager’s parents could have done the neighbourly thing by apologising.
“At least I would have peace because right now I can’t sleep, I can’t even eat. She was my only child,” he said.
“Even the school has not come to the family to pay their respects, they are going on with their lives.”