A veil of secrecy surrounds the drowning and ultimate death of a grade 8 Parktown Boys High School pupil Enoch Mpianzi at an orientation camp at Nyathi Bush and River Break lodge near Brits in North West.
The lifeless body of a grade 8 pupil Enoch Mpianzi was pulled out of the menacing river on Friday Jan. 17. The 13-year-old pupil died on Wednesday Jan. 15 in utter despair.
According to the boy cited by News24 citing a “boy” at the camp:
“There was no roll call done before we stepped on to the bus and none was done before the first activity [at the camp].”
The schoolboys were participating in a water activity involving makeshift rafts. Upon his discovery nearly two days later, it is understood Mpianzi was not wearing a life or safety jacket.
There were neither teachers nor supervisors at the scene of his spine-chilling death apparently. Explanations of what exactly happened at the orientation camp are incoherent and murky.
A parents meeting was held at the school to shine a light on the disastrous school ill-fated trip. However, very little emerged from the school meeting. Parents were gagged but assured of a probe by the school.
A News24 report also indicates that the boys who pressed for answers from facilitators at the camp were instructed by the school headmaster not to utter a word about the catastrophic camp anymore.
Rams Mabota, a parent with a son at the schooling, wrote an open letter to the school demanding the suspension of the school headmaster. Speaking on Newz Room African on Thursday Jan. 23, he said his recollection of stories narrated by his son resembled a “concentration camp”.
A boy who News24 quoted recounts the events of the tragic day:
“I was in the same group as Enoch. We were taken to a rugby field where we were given about four thick wooden poles and a few thinner poles and instructed to build a stretcher. We struggled tying the materials together and some poles kept on breaking. One of the activity facilitators told us to be more innovative and to even use our shoelaces to tie the poles together.”
News24 further reported that:
“Again, no safety vests were issued to us. The river tides were strong. In less than two minutes in the water, the stretcher capsized. It came loose and we all scrambled for things to hold on to.. . I saw him struggling. He seemed stuck in one place, trying to keep his head above water. I grabbed a pole and tried to pass it to Enoch but I couldn’t reach him. The river swept him away.”
On Friday Jan. 24, Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has suspended Parktown Boys’ High School principal Malcolm Williams effective immediately. The provincial department found the excursion was not authorized by the district.
Implicated teachers and officials are being investigated along with the school principal. The school governing body (SGB) has pledged its support to authorities.
Reports abound about four school pupils who drowned since 1999 in the area. Mpianzi was the fifth, News24 published.