The circumstances over what led to the injuries on the face of a Selborne College boy remain unclear.
This is because neither the provincial education department nor Selborne College have shed any further light on the matter.
Even Samkelo Ngwenya, the teen’s uncle and BCM spokesperson – who first raised the matter on his Facebook page on Friday – has not gone into further detail, saying he was not there when the incident unfolded at the school.
Ngwenya posted an image of his 15-year-old Grade 10 nephew with a torn lip, claiming he had been assaulted by 15 white pupils.
At the weekend, education MEC Mlungisi Mvoko announced that all the pupils involved had been placed on “precautionary suspension” pending an investigation.
A statement issued by the department’s spokesperson, Malibongwe Mtima, indicated that education officials would be visiting the school on Monday to investigate.
Late on Monday afternoon, department superintendent-general Themba Kojana said he would check whether a team had been sent to the school.
“I know they were supposed to collect a report and start with the investigations,” he said.
Kojana said he would get back to the Dispatch. However, he had not responded by the Dispatch’s print deadline.
Attempts to get hold of Mvoko were unsuccessful as his phone went to voicemail and an SMS sent went unanswered. When the Dispatch contacted Selborne requesting to speak to headmaster Andrew Dewar, his personal assistant, Sharne Jacobs, said he was in class.
However, Jacobs said the school had been instructed by the education department not to comment to the media.
“All media enquiries [about the incident] have to be conducted through the office of the MEC for education.
“The school is not authorised to do so,” she said.
As no official explanation has yet come from the education department or school, speculation has been mounting on social media.
Some Facebook users have suggested that Ngwenya’s nephew had been bullying another boy, was struck by others as a retaliatory measure, and that race had nothing to do with it.
Others, however, maintain that the alleged assault was racist in nature.
When the Dispatch asked Ngwenya whether he had asked his nephew what had sparked the incident, he responded: “Nope, I didn’t. I just didn’t find it important because immediate and appropriate actions were not taken.
“The school said that they will be taking statements from everyone and calling parents, so I thought that is their space, really,” he said. Now that the school and department had served suspensions, they needed to get the facts and come up with situations, he added.
“I won’t interfere with that by doing my own investigation or publicly speaking on behalf of my nephew about what happened. Well, I was going to, if the department wasn’t involved, but now that they are on board, I have faith in the system again.”..