Classes suspended at Parktown Boys’ High School

20 January 2020 - 14:26 By IAVAN PIJOOS
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On Monday the education department was busy with counselling sessions at the school.
On Monday the education department was busy with counselling sessions at the school.
Image: Sebabatso Mosamo

All classes were suspended at Parktown Boys’ High School on Monday, the department of education said.

Spokesperson Steve Mabona said the department was busy with counselling sessions at the school.

On Monday morning, several bouquets of flowers had been placed outside the main gates of the school. This after Enock Mpianzi died during a school orientation camp for grade 8 pupils.

The camp took place at the Nyati Bush and Riverbreak Lodge in the North West last week.

The 13-year-old died after the makeshift raft he had built with 11 other boys capsized in a river swollen by recent rains.

The teenager failed to surface, and his disappearance allegedly went unnoticed for 17 hours.

His body was found on Friday morning, 3km downstream.

The SA Human Rights Commission said on Monday  it would provide legal support to the family.

Parktown Boys' High said the camp aimed to introduce new Parktonians to each other and create an environment which “focuses on team work and the achieving of common goals through various activities offered at the camp”.

Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said he did not know whether the “people who assisted the children or the children themselves had life jackets or were given safety guidance”.

About 200 pupils took part in the camp.

Mpianzi's family is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He lived in Yeoville, Johannesburg.


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