A 10-year-old boy, who was found hanging by a rope, told his mom he was trying to end his life after being bullied at school.
The Mitchells Plain child was saved by his aunt and sister.
The Grade 5 pupil, who attends a primary school in Mitchells Plain, says a classmate had been bullying him since the start of term.
Clutching his mom, the small boy tells the Daily Voice: “He would hit me all the time, and then he blames me. He says I start first but I don’t do anything.
“I can’t take it anymore with him who always hits me. I wanted to die because of how he bullies me.”
The boy’s 40-year-old mother says she got a skrik when she heard what her son did on 28 May.
“His sister and aunt were in the room with him, he tied the rope to the curtain rail in my room, he stood on my bed and he put the rope around his neck.
“They thought he was playing but then my sister realised he was turning red and that’s when it hit them what he was trying to do and they shouted at him.
“He was doing this whole suicide attempt as if he had thought it through and planned how he would do it. The one moment he was standing and then he went off the bed.”
The mom says her son has refused to go to school.
“He is so afraid of being at school, every day he has a different story to stay out of school.
“I have spoken to the principal who said that they are not able to suspend the accused bully because he had just returned to school from a seven-day suspension for bullying another child, so they can’t suspend him so soon again.”
Western Cape Education Department spokesperson Unathi Booi confirmed: “The parent reported the matter at the WCED Safe Schools client services yesterday, 1 June 2022.
“The District Safe Schools has arranged a meeting with the parent to discuss the allegations and the necessary support required.”