DBE disputes insensitivity claims over Komape case
According to the department, they went to court only to interpret the legal question regarding damages, not to avoid damages.
James Komape and his daughter Johanna, who is the same age her brother Michael was when he drowned in a pit latrine more than five years ago, 18 December 2019. Picture: Earl Coetzee
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has issued a lengthy statement in dispute of what they call “misleading reports emanating from the judgment of Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA)” in the Michael Komape case.
Komape is the Grade R pupil who drowned in 2014 when a pit toilet at Mahlodumela Primary School, outside Polokwane, collapsed while he was using it.
After several court appearances over the years, the SCA awarded the Komape family R1.4 million for emotional shock and grief in December 2019.
According to the SA Government News Agency, the settlement amount is set to be paid to the family soon by the Limpopo Department of Education. This after Head of the Limpopo Department of Education Beauty Mutheiwana confirmed to the DBE on Tuesday that the provincial department would fulfil its obligations in this regard in a few days.
As the judgment dominated headlines, the public weighed in on the matter, claiming that the DBE was insensitive towards the Komape family following the loss of their child.
“The suggestions perpetuated in the media that the department did not support the family are also not supported by facts,” said DBE spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga in the statement.
“The department, at provincial and national level, conceded liability that Michael Komape (4) died at Mahlodumela Lower Primary School on 20 January 2014.
“Department officials visited the family to provide support, during which words of regret and sympathy were conveyed to the family. Support was offered immediately after the passing away of the child; also towards the funeral, and years after the regrettable incident.
“The provincial government, led by the Limpopo Office of the Premier, covered actual funeral costs and logistics.”
Mhlanga went on to add that the Limpopo Department of Social Development provided trauma counselling to the whole family, paid an amount which covered the funeral cost claim as well as the reported loss of income for Mrs Komape, as ordered in an interim High Court judgment.
Mhlanga went on to list additional ways in which the department assisted the family.
He explained that the department went to court only to interpret the legal question regarding damages, not to avoid damages.
“Now that the court has given a ruling on the amount, we will pay. We never refused to pay the family. It was never about money but the need for a competent authority to provide guidance of the appropriate quantum to be paid.
“On several occasions, we attempted to settle the matter out of court but without success. Now that the SCA has given a directive, we will abide by it,” added Mutheiwana.
Clarifying misleading comments regarding the Supreme Court of Appeal Judgment…. pic.twitter.com/KvQTA4Fqjz
— Dep. Basic Education (@DBE_SA) December 24, 2019
READ NEXT: How the court arrived at a R1.4m damages award for Michael Komape’s family
(Compiled by Kaunda Selisho)
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