Africa-Press – South-Africa. Gauteng’s Education MEC, Matome Chiloane, said the fact that Brian Ndlovu told a teacher, “I’ll see you tomorrow”, was evidence the 15-year-old wasn’t poisoned at school.
The Grade 9 Queens High School pupil died in a suspected poisoning incident last Monday.
Ndlovu was taken to Hillbrow Clinic for treatment.
Chiloane visited the school in eastern Johannesburg on Monday morning.
He said police had been called in to investigate allegations that pupils at the school had poisoned Ndlovu.
“The incident took place on 31 July. [Ndlovu] had a scuffle with a Grade 8 boy and, in the incident, the Grade 8 was slapped.
“Both [sets of] parents were called to the school. But the following day, only the [Grade 8 boy’s] father arrived. That’s when the school learned [Ndlovu] had passed on.”
The MEC said the school had 96 CCTV cameras, and Ndlovu’s movements that day were carefully watched.
He said:
The boy was driven home by a teacher, who said that he joked and said he would see the teacher the following day.
“Because there is an element of suspicion, police have been called in. The [Gauteng Department of Education] arrived the following day.
“We are still waiting for the postmortem.”
There are allegations that Ndlovu was being bullied at school.
Chiloane said bullying was a significant problem in all schools across the province.
He said any potential culprits, if there were any, would be brought to book.
“Once it’s in the police’s hands, it is a criminal investigation.
“We don’t know if it was a poisoning or a suicide. There are high cases of kids [dying by] suicide. There are issues with mental health at schools. There have been a number of cases.”
The school’s principal, Johan Lourens, said neither Ndlovu nor his parents had come to the school to complain about bullying.
“If there were ever any bullying issues reported, the school would handle it.
“Our motto is: ‘We handle all small issues to avoid the big issues’.”
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