By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) has given an independent law firm investigating the death of Grade 6 Thokoza pupil, Sibusiso Mbatha, five days to conclude their investigation.
The 12-year-old tragically took his life on 23 October after he was allegedly verbally abused and bullied by a teacher at a school who made homophobic remarks at him.
The Mbatha family and Khehlekile Primary School were introduced to Rangata Attorneys on Monday.
The firm has been appointed by GDE to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Sibusiso and will provide recommendations on how to conclude the matter.
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane introduced the independent law firm tasked with probing the circumstances surrounding Mbatha’s death to the school principal and governing body at the Khehlekile Primary School.
He said the lawyers were briefed on the department’s expectations: “…key amongst those is to investigate what transpired here so that we can have an understanding on what led to our child to do what he did.”
“Those who are responsible or did something that could’ve led to what has happened, we will look into those recommendations and act on them without any hesitation.”
Chiloane said he hopes the report will shed light on why there’s been an increase in cases of suicides among pupils in the province and help prevent it from happening.
The director of the Pretoria-based Rangata Attorneys, Baitseng Rangata, said they are not on a finger-pointing mission, but they are rather seeking to provide constructive recommendations.
“Our responsibility is to investigate and get the facts, not to point fingers but provide recommendations that are going to assist the department, the society, and the school to make sure that incidents of this nature don’t repeat themselves.”
They have been given five working days to produce a report, which they will hand over to the MEC.
Chiloane said he’s confident Rangata, who was one of the evidence leaders at the State Capture Commission of Inquiry, is fit for the task.
Meanwhile Basic Education minister Angie Motshekga said she doesn’t expect the exam period to be completely incident-free, there have been no major disruptions or irregularities reported thus far.
Motshekga stressed that additional security measures have been put in place to minimize the risk of leaks and cheating, and this includes using the services of the State Security Agency to audit their systems and vet officials.
“The last time we had a leak was in 2020 and it happened here in Gauteng at the warehouse, where one of the people printing working for the printing house leaked the paper. That’s why we brought state security for vetting. Last year’s problem in Mpumalanga was just mischief by an educator.”
Chiloane confirmed he had not received reports of any “glitches” on the first day of exams. The class of 2023 is made up of nearly a million pupils across the country.