Johannesburg - The family of Keamogetswe “Keamo” Seboko are adamant that educators at Laerskool Bekker Primary School are to blame for their 12-year-old’s death.
Keamogetswe’s naked, lifeless body was discovered at the bottom of a swimming pool at the school in Magaliesburg last month.
He was swimming at the school’s hostel pool with around 60 other boys on his first day at his new school when he went missing.
His body was recovered from the bottom of the pool over 30 minutes after the rest of the boys left the pool.
His swimming shorts and underwear were also found floating in the water.
The children were under the supervision of a male caretaker from the school.
His mother, Lucia Seboko, said preliminary investigations into her son’s death pointed to gross negligence by the educators.
An investigation by law firm Ndobela Lamola Inc. Attorneys found that the supervisor on duty at the time of the incident was aware that Keamogetswe was at the bottom of the pool, but turned a blind eye, she said.
“What we have heard from investigators is that the last boy to leave the pool noticed there was another boy at the bottom of the pool and immediately alerted the teacher on duty.
“The teacher just said okay but did nothing about it. The boy left the swimming pool and the teacher locked the gate to the pool and left.”
Seboko also learnt that when the next group of female pupils got into the pool, they too alerted another supervisor that there was a body at the bottom of the pool, but again nothing was done.
“When the girls came to swim, one pupil went to the female supervisor and said she had stepped on something that felt like a face.
"The girl went down to take a proper look and said she saw a boy at the bottom of the pool.
“Instead of the female supervisor jumping into the pool to see if she could get my son out, she evacuated the children and called the male supervisor to let him know one of his boys was there at the bottom of the pool.
“Both teachers refused to go into the pool to get my son. They actually sent the boy who initially saw my son at the bottom of the pool into the pool once again to see if my son was there.
"The two supervisors then called a third supervisor, who eventually got into the pool and took my son’s body out.”
A devastated Seboko believes her son would still be alive today had the supervisors on duty acted decisively.
“What if the teacher could have saved him? So much time was wasted and the supervisors just looked on.”
Seboko also questioned the supervisors' decision to send another pupil to identify her son’s body at the bottom of the pool.
“How the hell can you send a little boy back into the pool to identify my son’s body? When he saw my son for the first time that must have been traumatic on its own.
"What kind of adults are they?”
She is furious with the school, which she says continues to conceal the circumstances around her son’s death.
“What makes me angry is that the school continues to lie to me. I went back to the school because I wanted answers. I wanted to know where the supervisor was when all this happened. All he said was he saw nothing.
“Why didn’t he tell me that another pupil told him that my son was at the bottom of the pool? The fact that the school continues to hide crucial information shows that they are trying to cover up something.”
Seboko does not believe her son drowned accidentally. When she visited the mortuary two weeks ago to receive the results of the post-mortem, she discovered that he had several cuts on his body, including a cut beside his lip on the right cheek, a cut across the back of his neck, as well as a cut on top of his head.
“The post-mortem results confirm my son had drowned .... We suspect that it was an initiation that went horribly wrong.”
Meanwhile, the Gauteng Department of Education has remained tight-lipped.
“We are investigating the matter. That is all I can say,” said spokesperson Steve Mabona.
MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi confirmed last month that action would be taken against the leadership of Laerskool Bekker Primary.
Magaliesburg police are investigating the matter.