Lesufi: 'We are turning our schools into mortuaries'

Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi on Sunday vowed to expel school staff if they were found to have been negligent in the protection of pupils.

Lesufi was speaking to the media after meeting the family of 13-year-old Keamohetswe Shaun Seboko who drowned in the hostel swimming pool at Laerskool Bekker in Magaliesburg, Gauteng.

Seboko's body was found on Wednesday, the same day Parktown Boys' High grade 8 pupil Enoch Mpianzi drowned in the Crocodile River during an orientation camp at the Nyati River and Bush lodge in the North West. Mpianzi was not wearing a life jacket when the pupils' raft on the river capsized — and his disappearance went unnoticed for 17 hours.

Lesufi bemoaned the fact that he spent “more time comforting families” than speaking to teachers.

“This must come to an end.”

He warned the department would take action against negligence.

“Where it is staff-related negligence, the department will take action. If they need to be expelled or banned ... we will do it. It is non-negotiable,” he told broadcaster eNCA in Magaliesburg.

“We are turning our schools into mortuaries ... we must stop that.”