School blamed for drowning

Mother says teachers stood by and watched as son was lying at bottom of school’s pool

SAMEER NAIK sameer.naik@inl.co.za

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 independent law firm Harris Nupen Molebatsi 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 wasere at the bottom of the pool.

“Both teachers refused to go into the pool to get my son. They actually