‘Requests for toilets ignored’

Letters written to the department to no avail

The former principal of Mahlodumela Primary School yesterday testified that repeated requests for new school toilets were ignored years before Michael Komape died inside a pit latrine.

Maphalane Malothane was testifying in the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane during the ongoing civil lawsuit against the Department of Basic Education.

Michael’s family is demanding about R3-million from the state after the five-year-old drowned inside a pit latrine at the school in Chebeng village near Polokwane in 2014. Malothane, who is now retired, was Michael’s class teacher at the time.

She told the court that she had written letters between 2004 and 2009 in a bid to get new toilets for pupils at the school. Malothane was being cross-examined by the family’s lawyer, Advocate Vincent Maleka, who asked how the department had handled her requests.

Malothane related how she noticed on that fateful day that Michael was missing from class. She said she usually marked the register after the break between 10am and 11am. She said when she asked about Michael’s whereabouts, other pupils said they last saw him playing outside.

Malothane said she called Michael’s mother to inform her that he was not in class and even went to ask his older brother, who was also a pupil at the school.

She said she also asked teachers to go out in three cars and search around the village.

Michael was later found dead in the toilets by a classmate. The trial continues.