Pretoria - The Pretoria pupil who died during a school swimming trip last Friday had never swum a day in his life.
His uncle, John Chauke, said the pupil loved watching cartoons. “He was the hope of the family. He was my sister Lydia’s only child, and one of 15 people living here at home,” Chauke said.
He said the family were hurting badly, but they would not want to start to speculate and hurt themselves more by pointing fingers and assigning blame to the school or anybody.
“We put a lot of hope on that child. That he will go to school, grow up and one day become something special in our community, and be able to change our circumstances. It cannot happen that way because when water has spilled, you cannot undo that. We cannot point fingers and say the school did that and somebody did not do something, because we do not know what is going on.
“We are waiting for the results of a post-mortem examination to explain to us what happened. After that, we can sit down with the school to talk based on that. All I can say is that currently we are not doing well because it is painful to let a child go out early in the morning on foot, but the child comes back lying on his back.
“When it comes to what happened on the day, the school, those who were there, must be the ones that explain, because we were not there. They should be the ones saying what happened to our child’s life. If I try to say some things, I will end up lying because I was not there. Right now, we are happy the department has come to see us.”
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane yesterday questioned whether or not schools should be taking pupils who could not swim on swimming trips.
“They can go to pools. Some pools can be shallow, but there needs to be a thorough supervision, and there should be lifeguards and people informing pupils, here you cannot go, and this is where you can go.
“So we cannot stop that experience. You will know that our communities do not see pools often. We also have a responsibility to expose our children to these things, as young as they are, to ensure they acclimatise to the development they are undertaking.
“But there needs to be a balance. A life that is lost is a life too many. Hence, we are going in the direction that we are going to establish facts.”
The Gauteng Department of Education is set to appoint an independent law firm to investigate the circumstances around the death.
Chiloane told an assembly of parents and educators as well as the child’s parents when he visited Refalotse Primary School in Winterveldt yesterday morning that there were still too many questions about the loss of the boy’s life.
He said there have been too few answers given about what happened to Grade 6 pupil, Mandla, 12, who died when pupils were swimming at Plot 184 Resort under the supervision of educators and some parents.
So far, the government had only been informed that Grade 6 pupils were accompanied by teachers and some parents, where they were alerted by other pupils that Mandla was no longer responsive.
They immediately removed him from the swimming pool and tried to resuscitate him while waiting for emergency services and the police. However, it was too late for him.
The underprivileged family depend on social grants from the grandmother and some of Mandla’s aunts. Chauke said they would appreciate any support they could get.
He said the boy was not registered on the family burial policy because his birth certificate had been lost.
The department’s independent inquiry will run concurrently with the police investigation.
The department has already offered pupils, the family and educators psychosocial support to help them deal with the ordeal.
Pretoria News