Alex Matlala
Alex Matlala
The mother of a Limpopo boy who committed suicide after being forced to repeat Grade 9 cried bitterly yesterday as she pleaded for help to bury her son.
The distraught mother, Charlotte Mojela, 42, said she had no money to give her son a decent funeral.
During a visit by a Sowetan team to the school yesterday, the gates were locked. Neither teachers nor pupils were at the school.
When Sowetan met Mojela at Monte Christo village in Steiloop near Polokwane yesterday, she pleaded with us to ask the local government and business community to help her to bury her son.
Clarence Mojela, 19, was a student at Sewela-Batho High School in the village.
He was found hanging from a tree near the school last Tuesday.
Community spokesman Elias Phoko said Clarence disappeared after arguing with his class teacher last Monday.
He was later found dead. According to witnesses at the school, Clarence allegedly became furious when he was told to repeat the same class for the third time.
"I lost my son because of a teacher's incompetence. Now that he is gone, there is no need to look for non-existent answers.
"But please, help me to bury him so that he can rest in peace," pleaded the unemployed single mother.
Matters apparently came to a head last Thursday when hundreds of angry parents locked the gates of the school and chased away the teachers and school principal Johanna Mokoka.
A tense meeting was held between the community and officials from the department of education last week.
Parents of the pupils told the officials that Mokoka should be relieved of her duties or "all hell will break loose".
Spokesman for the education department, Ndo Mangala, said he would comment only after studying a report from the school's authorities.
Mangala also undertook to investigate. He promised to talk to the media once he had spoken to the teachers and principal.
'help bury my son'
Alex Matlala
Alex Matlala
The mother of a Limpopo boy who committed suicide after being forced to repeat Grade 9 cried bitterly yesterday as she pleaded for help to bury her son.
The distraught mother, Charlotte Mojela, 42, said she had no money to give her son a decent funeral.
During a visit by a Sowetan team to the school yesterday, the gates were locked. Neither teachers nor pupils were at the school.
When Sowetan met Mojela at Monte Christo village in Steiloop near Polokwane yesterday, she pleaded with us to ask the local government and business community to help her to bury her son.
Clarence Mojela, 19, was a student at Sewela-Batho High School in the village.
He was found hanging from a tree near the school last Tuesday.
Community spokesman Elias Phoko said Clarence disappeared after arguing with his class teacher last Monday.
He was later found dead. According to witnesses at the school, Clarence allegedly became furious when he was told to repeat the same class for the third time.
"I lost my son because of a teacher's incompetence. Now that he is gone, there is no need to look for non-existent answers.
"But please, help me to bury him so that he can rest in peace," pleaded the unemployed single mother.
Matters apparently came to a head last Thursday when hundreds of angry parents locked the gates of the school and chased away the teachers and school principal Johanna Mokoka.
A tense meeting was held between the community and officials from the department of education last week.
Parents of the pupils told the officials that Mokoka should be relieved of her duties or "all hell will break loose".
Spokesman for the education department, Ndo Mangala, said he would comment only after studying a report from the school's authorities.
Mangala also undertook to investigate. He promised to talk to the media once he had spoken to the teachers and principal.