Mpianzi death report drama
Media must leave, shout angry Parktown Boys’ High parents
THE RELEASE of the report which looked into the death of the Parktown Boys’ High School pupil Enock Mpianzi who drowned was marred with drama last night after the media was kicked out of the meeting.
Last night Parktown parents, department officials and the media arrived at the school hall to hear the outcome of the report which was meant to start at 6pm but it had not been released to the media by 8pm.
The department was initially supposed to release the report on February 20 but, however, the family had not given their blessing for it to be released.
During the meeting yesterday, MEC Panyaza Lesufi said the school governing body (SGB) requested that parents hear the report in the absence of the media.
One parent raised that some parents were unable to attend the meeting and as a result they did not have the privilege to have the information from the report.
That parent was however overruled by five other parents who said the media had been inaccurately reporting on the learner’s death. The parents also added that photographers had taken pictures of them and their children without consent at the meeting and during Enock’s memorial service.
“They must leave!” shouted the angry parents.
The MEC said because the majority of the parents wanted the media out, he conceded to their demands and apologised to the media.
“I need to respect the views of the parents who said the media must go and I need to apologise to them because they are the fourth estate and they are protected by the constitution of this country,” said Lesufi.
The angry media workers were then forced to put up their equipment and vacate the hall.
Outside the hall, the journalists questioned why they were kicked out because they were not given an opportunity to air their side of the story.
“Freedom of press is important in South Africa and this is a public space,” one journalist said.
Earlier, the Mpianzi family’s lawyer Ian Levitt told The Star the family had only seen the report into their son’s death at 11am yesterday, a few hours before the Gauteng Department of Education was due to release it.
“It was a harrowing experience recounting the hours and days before Enock Mpianzi’s death so they [his parents] were in no emotional state to be giving out their blessings,” he said.
Levitt added that the family did understand that the MEC Panyaza Lesufi wanted to release the report and give the department their permission.
“There’s been damning findings against a number of individuals and entities and these will be investigated over the next couple of days and weeks and then criminal (justice) action will be taken against everyone that was implicated,” Levitt said.
The Mpianzi family was not present at the school during the announcement of the report findings.
“They are not going to go through this again,” said Leviit a few hours before the report was released.
The 13-year-old boy had gone to a Grade 8 orientation camp at Nyati Bush and Riverbank in the North West with about 189 fellow Grade 8 pupils.
The boys were instructed to build a bamboo raft using shoelaces on the Crocodile River when the raft Enock built with his classmates overturned and he drowned. His body was found the following day.
Enock is not the first child to drown at the camp. In April 2010, Mellony Sias of Hoërskool Adamantia in Kimberley, Northern Cape, drowned after attending a hockey training camp.
Following Enock’s death, political parties and advocacy groups demanded that the school and the lodge take full responsibility for the death.
Women & Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA) spokesperson Ngaa Murombedzi said the orginisation supported the Mpianzi family’s decision to take criminal action against everyone implicated.
“We definitely support and agree the family have every right to go after every person who was mandated to ensure that their boy was going to be okay on that trip and every person who was to ensure that the protocols were followed,” she said.