Mom’s 17-year-old agony may be over

THE MOTHER of a high school rugby star who suffered fatal injuries during a game in 2002 may finally get some answers.

This comes as the missing inquest docket into her son’s death was found allegedly in the archives of the Boksburg Police Station in Ekurhuleni.

Last month The Star reported on how Lumka M’Belle was still seeking answers following the death of her son, Thabang Vuyo M’Belle, 17 years ago.

Thabang, who was 18 at the time, suffered fatal injuries in a rugby game for Potchefstroom High School for Boys after a doctor had recommended he should not play.

M’Belle opened a case at Boksburg Police Station in 2017, however the police previously told The Star that the case number could not be found on their system.

“After the article, the police suddenly remembered that an inquest was indeed held on Thabang. They went into the archives, found the docket and then discovered that there should have been an investigation into his death,” she said.

M’Belle said she was told by the police that the post-mortem report found that Thabang’s cause of death was a haemorrhage in his brain because of his initial injury.

“It’s only now after this story that they are running around,” she said.

Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters said she would verify the information on Thabang’s docket and issue a comprehensive response.

In June 2017, a report on the alleged maladministration by the North West Department of Education and Sport Development regarding Thabang’s death was released where remedial action needed to be taken.

M’Belle claimed that the remedial actions were not followed and she accused Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane of not making the department comply.

Mkhwebane’s spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe, said the public protector would raise Thabang’s case in her meeting with North West Premier Job Mokgoro and the province’s Education MEC, Mmaphefo Matsemela.

“Hopefully the MEC will be there because we have been dealing with heads of department and officials and we have not been getting our way in terms of establishing if that matter has been finalised so that we can close our files, but more importantly for Miss M’Belle to get closure,” he said.

M’Belle said she was happy that her son’s story had been exposed and that “the ball is rolling” on the matter.

“But I’m sad because all those years I could not get the answers, so why now?” the mother asked.

Segalwe said the protector’s office had been following up on the matter with the department after the report was released, however there had been no progress hence the office was considering subpoenaing the department.

“I want an inquest to be conducted as I want this matter to go to court, because it is only there that the truth will come out,” M’Belle said.