Dead boy’s family ‘blamed the school’
Ex-principal testifies
THE KOMAPE family will have to wait until next year to know the outcome of their lawsuit against the Limpopo Department of Education after their son drowned in a pit toilet.
The trial is set to conclude in February in the Polokwane High Court. The family are suing the department for R3 million for the trauma and stress they suffered after Michael drowned in faeces in the school’s pit toilet in January 2014.
Yesterday, a defence witness and former principal of Mahlodumela Primary School, Maphalane Malothane, explained that they had been too scared to visit the Komape family after the pupil died. He was five years old and had just started Grade R.
“We feared visiting the family, as they told us that we were the ones who killed their son, Michael,” she testified.
Malothane told the court that it was because of this fear that they had not told the Komapes about the donation of desks made to the school in honour of Michael following his death.
On the day Michael died, the former principal – who was also his class teacher – learnt that he was missing when his name was read out in class.
“When we realised he was missing, we conducted a search at the school, but we couldn’t find him. It was on our third search, after his mother was already at the school, when she suggested that we also look in the toilets.
“She collapsed after seeing his hand,” said Malothane, explaining how the mother had discovered her son had drowned in the pit toilet, with his hand reaching up for help in death.
The scene encountered by the anxious mother caused her to faint.
Asked by advocate Vincent Maleka why she did not help Michael’s mother when she collapsed Malothane said: “I did nothing, because I did not know what to do.”
Michael fell into the school pit toilet, which was built as a temporary toilet and was not meant to have been a permanent structure.
Malothane said she wrote letters to the Department of Education as far back as 2009 asking it to build permanent toilets at the school, but she never followed up on her letters.
The temporary toilets were not suitable for primary school pupils as the holes were too big for them.
When Maleka asked Malothane if she would have allowed her own children to use a toilet like the one in which Michael drowned, Malothane said: “No. I wouldn’t allow my children to use them.”
According to Malothane, about 10 parents visited the school after Michael’s body was removed from the school toilet.
“The parents came to the school and said they wanted to see the toilets, because they had heard that a learner had fallen inside. They started to shake the toilet’s structure, saying they don’t want their children to continue using them as they did not want them to be victims like Michael.”
The defence called their last witness, Makoma Rasekgala, who works at the Department of Education as the chief director of continuous professional and teachers’ development.
Rasekgala told the court that she visited the Komape family after she received a call that the family needed gas, which she delivered to them personally.
Rasekgala testified that the department had sent a task team to help prepare for the child’s funeral and that food was provided for the family at the funeral. This was in contrast to the evidence by Michael’s mother Rosina Komape, who testified that the department never offered the family any form of help during the funeral.
The State and the defence are set to make their final arguments on December 19. – Health-e News
Teachers too scared to visit Komapes after Michael died