Western Cape Education Department sued for R4m over pupils’ drowning

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Cape Town – The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has been slapped with a R4 million lawsuit for negligence which allegedly led to the drowning of two Khayelitsha matric pupils. The case is expected to come before the court in May. Six years after Bukhosibethu Tywaku, 18, and Odwa Macupe, 17, drowned on October 13, 2014, during an alleged unsupervised five-day school camp at the Rotary Club in Strandfontein the boys’ families are still seeking answers about what happened that day. The two Luhlaza High School pupils were to write their matric final exams a week later and the camp was to prepare them. Instead, they were both found dead in a pool at about 8.30am, and the circumstances leading to their drownings remained a mystery.

The families filed damages claims in 2015 against the provincial department at the Western Cape High Court, after they were called to a meeting at the school and told they would not be compensated.

The families said they were more determined to fight for justice following the recent tragic death of Parktown Boys’ High Grade 8 pupil Enock Mpianzi.

He drowned at the Nyati Bush and River Break lodge during an orientation camp in Brits in the North West. His body was only discovered two days later.

Representing the Khayelitsha families, Rustum Reid of Reid Attorneys Inc said the department made it clear they did not want to compensate them.

“They say there was no duty on them to take any steps to prevent the drowning of the deceased and want us to prove there was such an obligation on the department to take steps to prevent the drowning,” said Reid.

In court papers, the families argue that the department was allegedly negligent in that they failed or refused to ensure that pupils were properly supervised at the camp and, more so, during swimming periods.

They also claim the department was negligent in their choice of the camp site, which was organised for purposes of matric revision.

Reid said each client was claiming for funeral expenses, trauma, post-traumatic stress, emotional shock and depression as a result of the department’s unlawful conduct or omission in the amount of R1 million.

Bokhosibethu’s father Richard lost a son that day, and later his wife Elizabeth, who was diagnosed with depression after their son’s death, and died from a clot in the brain.

“This has taken a toll on us as parents, and my wife was sick after this.

“We are just hoping to at least be compensated because to date we still don’t even know what was the outcome of the department’s investigation.

“The compensation cannot bring our sons back but we have medical bills to pay and will mean justice was served for our sons. We are hoping things will work for us or we will have to also write to the public protector’s office,” he said.

Reid said Elizabeth’s claim should not fall away but an assessor would stand in her place and the proceedings will continue.

“I’ll meet with the clients on Friday to further discuss this. After this pre-trial, we are hoping to have our trial date and to conclude this case this year.

"As the firm, we want to see justice done and the parents’ suffering resolved with some kind of payment. We are working to prove the alleged negligence,” said Reid.

WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said she could not comment.

“The matter is before the courts and we await further instruction from the courts.”

She confirmed that a probe was conducted at the time but could not say what the parents were told as the officials involved in the case were no longer with the WCED.

Cape Times