Gauteng MEC Panyaza Lesufu says Parktown Boys' High School has applied for permission for pupils to go on a school trip to Europe, which he feels is inappropriate given the spread of coronavirus.

Lesufi revealed this during an interview on Power 98.7 on Thursday, adding that an application for the trip was on his desk. The Johannesburg school was slated in a forensic report, released on Wednesday night, into the drowning of Enock Mpianzi. The grade 8 pupil died during an orientation camp in January.

“I have received an application (for a trip) from the same school. They want to take learners to coronavirus-infected countries for a cultural exchange programme. Can you really say we have learnt out of this? I am in a state of shock that we still believe nothing has happened and that we want to go to countries, and we don’t make analysis,” Lesufi said.

He did not say which country or countries were in the proposal. In Europe, the outbreak has mainly been in Italy.