Friends, family mourn
This was the year things were going to be different for Inganathi Pilisani. Inga, as his friends and family knew him, had two new school uniforms – a pair of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt for summer; longs and a long-sleeved shirt for winter.
“I wanted him to know he had the right things to wear,” said his mom. “I wanted him to know what to do, even when I’m not here.”
Thembisa Pilisani is a health care facilitator whose work is based in Matatiele in the furthest corner of the Eastern Cape. Her job entails travelling away from her base there for days at a time, conducting training on HIV/Aids, TB, STIs and basic financial management for people living in remote rural areas.
Inga, 11, lived in Grahamstown with his granny, along with his baby sister and two cousins, and that’s where Thembisa and his class teacher, Boniwe Ntanga, were sharing memories of his work.
“He was tall... a very caring person.
“He loved food – everyone in the family knew that – especially rice.
“He loved sport – any sport – soccer. If was home for a weekend and I came back and found he was out, I knew how to find him.
“I’d look and see if he’d had something to eat – then I knew, and I’d go straight to the soccer grounds and fetch him.”
He got his sportiness from his dad, Anele Plaatjie, Thembisa reckons – and on that score things were working much better. He’d spent the Christmas holidays with his dad’s family at a farm on the Kenton road.
Inga’s mom and dad had shared the cost of his new uniforms, making sure he would have everything he needed.
One thing about Inga – and Ntanga, agreed – was that he knew his own mind.
“It’s not that he was naughty – it’s just that when Inga decided something was going to be like this, that’s what got done,” Ntanga said.
“He had that special something – that spark.”
Above all, he was considerate.
Last Thursday, a new child arrived in the class – the child’s parents had only then managed to organise transport from the Waainek area to the school.
Confusion
The Grade 5 class at Samuel Ntsiko Primary is a tight fit: there were already 51 children in the class, and now 52.
“Inga went and found a desk for that child, and a chair for him to sit on,” Ntanga said.
The children in his class at Samuel Ntsiko Primary School cried all morning on Monday when they heard the news of Inga’s drowning in Grey Dam the day before, Sunday 22 January.
His cousin Sibabalwe Ngeju, who is in Grade 7 at the same school, didn’t sleep at all on Sunday night.
Even though he’s two years older than Inga, his cousin was the adventurous one.
“Inga said on Sunday, ‘Let’s go to the dam,’” Sibabalwe said.
The previous Wednesday, Sibabalwe had gone there for the first time with Inga and some other boys.
On Thursday they told their friends at school what they’d done – and more boys went with them. By Friday, there was a group of 20 children.
They didn’t go on Saturday – but Sunday was very hot.
On the Grahamstown Facebook page, residents reported 37C in Stones Hill, and 43C in Belmont Valley and along the Fort Beaufort road.
So the boys joined the dozens who walk up to 10km to cool down in Grey Dam, which is around 1.5km south-west of Grahamstown on the Mountain Drive road.
The story that follows is one of confusion. Inga said, let's swim to the other side, and so they did.
There was a lot of activity around the dam – lots of people braaing, loud music, some adults swimming and jumping into the water, and when Sibabalwe got out, he looked around and didn’t see his cousin.
Thinking he must have got out along the way, he started looking for him among the many people around the dam.
He asked their friends –
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