Two teenage boys from Daveyton Skills School drowned at Hennops River near Centurion on Monday. Police are still investigating the cause of their deaths.
They were attending a camp organised by an NGO that hosts discipline camps that aim to assist children to “learn important morals” to overcome bad behaviour such as disrespecting parents, laziness and bullying.
The young need to learn the good and bad at an early stage in life, and this is important in a country which has one of the highest crime rates in the world, and programmes to instil discipline and good morals to young people should be encouraged.
However, glancing at the social media posts by this organisation, one can see how the youth are too close to the river during some of their activities at the discipline camps. A few steps and children could find themselves in a raging river.
It has not been established whether Siphamandla Peterson, 15, and Sibusiso Sibiya, 17, were able to swim. It has also not been established whether there were any safety measures in place by the organisation to ensure the young people do not slip into the river, especially those who are unable to swim.
What has been established is that no-one from the Gauteng education department or district knew about the excursion. It has also been established that only one social worker was responsible for pupils during the trip and no teacher accompanied the pupils on the excursion.
Not too long ago, there was a case of Latoya Temilton, a grade 7 pupil at Queenswood Primary School in Pretoria, who drowned at a school leadership camp on January 20. A report that was commissioned by the Gauteng education department found there was little supervision of the children, if any, on site.
The report suggested the department review its excursion policies, particularly those relating to swimming activities.
Who will forget the Parktown Boys’ High School pupil Enock Mpiazi, 13, who drowned in the Crocodile River during an excursion to the Nyati Bush and River Break in Brits on January 15 2020?
The drowning of Temilton highlights the need for the department to give the green light to these excursions. It also shows that the lack of supervision from either the school officials or the hosts could result in pupils being in danger of drowning.
The department should seriously review excursion policies after the latest incident, to ensure that such incidents are avoided in the future.
After the latest drownings, Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane announced the department will appoint an independent investigative law firm to probe the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
We hope the law firm will not leave any stone unturned. Those responsible for the premature deaths of these children should be held accountable for their actions or omissions.
When parents leave their children in the hands of guardians, they and society expect them to care for them just as the parents would. Any wrongful conduct, by commission or omission, must attract commensurate consequences.
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