Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi will visit the family of the 13-year-old Keamohetswe Shaun Seboko in Eldorado Park, South of Johannesburg on Sunday. The Grade 7 learner from Laerskool Bekker in Magaliesburg, was found dead in the hostel’s swimming pool on Wednesday afternoon.
Police investigations into the drowning incident are underway and the Education Department says that learners at the school will continue to receive counselling on Monday.
Departmental spokesperson, Steve Mabona says the aim of the visit is to offer comfort to the family.
“The MEC will then visit the family just to interact with them, to convey his sincere condolences, and to assure the support that the department will give to the family accordingly,” says Mabona.
Investigations are underway following the death of the learner. The police were called after the incident and they’ve already opened a case to which they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the matter.
Mabona highlighted that the department will await results of the investigation. “ We’ll then have to await for them to guide us on what might have transpired there.”
The incident comes after the Department of Basic Education had expressed disappointment at the lack of immediate communication by two schools in Gauteng following the fatal drowning of two learners.
Earlier in the week, Grade 8 Parktown Boys High learner Enock Mpianzi went missing while on a school excursion in the North West. His body was found in the Crocodile River on Friday.
The provincial department was only notified late Friday about Seboko’s death and learnt late on Thursday about Mpianzi’s disappearance.
The national department’s spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga says thorough investigations must be conducted into both incidents.
“We are extremely shocked and saddened by these because we didn’t expect that we would start off in this way. I mean the families of those learners are grieving at the moment and we convey our condolences to them. It’s quite shocking that learners would still be drowning and when you listen to what is being said about the circumstances around it – it does indicate that some more investigation needs to be conducted to understand why a learner would drown.”
“Where were other people? There are rules I mean, there has to be someone to take care of them. There has to be measures put in place to make sure that everyone is alive, all activities that they are undertaking are safe,” expresses Mhlanga.
Meanwhile, Parktown Boys High School on Saturday has released a statement to clarify the circumstances around the drowning of Mpianza. The school has emphasised that there was adult supervision at the camp.
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