Learner found hanged after phone theft

A GRADE 12 learner allegedly committed suicide a few hours after he was arrested and charged with the theft of a cellphone at his school.

The boys who admitted to stealing the phone apparently made the admission after their schoolmate had killed himself at his home, the family of the deceased claimed.

Makhosini Masango, 18, allegedly took his own life on the morning of July 31, a day after he was detained at Boksburg police station for several hours, and later released into the custody of his parents.

Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubele confirmed that Makhosini was arrested for stealing a cellphone and had been criminally charged.

However, his family are angry that they were not contacted by the school after the alleged crime was committed. And they want answers.

“Makhosini was accused of stealing a phone at his school the previous day (July 30) without any proof that he did it. The school called the police without contacting the parents. The school never called to inform the parents about the incident,” said his aunt Sizakele Hadebe.

“The police only later called the parents. The police collected him from the school grounds, cuffing his hands and feet, and took him to the police station for interrogation. We believe that they interrogated him as if he was an adult, without his parents present,” she added.

Hadebe said they believed Makhosini was questioned the whole day.

His parents picked him up from the police station around 9pm.

“He was so traumatised from the previous day’s interrogation for a crime he did not commit that he felt the only way out was to take his own life. He hanged himself with a robe belt in the kitchen of his mother’s house,” Hadebe said.

Makhosini’s mother heard the sound of a bucket fall, and found him. “His mother cut the rope and called an ambulance.

“The hospital reported that his brain did not get oxygen, and he was declared brain dead. He was kept on life support for four hours before the doctor advised the parents to switch off the life support because he was gone and there was nothing they could do to help him,” Hadebe said. He was buried on August 4. Hadebe said the school should have called Makhosini’s parents before they called the police.

“Both the school and the police were irresponsible, and their negligence resulted in the death of an innocent boy who had his whole life ahead of him.”

Hadebe said the boys who stole the phone later came forward.

Makhubele said an inquest docket had been opened regarding Makhosini’s death, adding that no one else was arrested for the alleged theft.

Meanwhile, the Gauteng Department of Education told The Star that the school was not registered.

“Our preliminary investigation confirmed that it’s an independent school, and unfortunately it’s not registered with the department as per requirement.

“Therefore, working with the police, officials will facilitate for the shutdown of the school with immediate effect,” said the department’s spokesperson Steve Mabona.

He said the department was saddened by the unfortunate circumstances of Makhosini’s death.

“May the family find comfort in the knowledge that we too share their loss. No words are enough to express our sorrow at the loss of a child,” said Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi.

The school’s principal, Tilly Strydom, denied claims that Makhosini had been accused of stealing the cellphone. “Everything that happened with the child did not happen on our premises, and we do not have any more information. It had nothing to do with school,” she said.

Asked whether the school was registered, Strydom said: “I don’t think it has anything to do with you, honestly, because we know if we are registered or not. I will speak to the department when they visit me.”