IN PICS: Ex-schoolmates, teachers bid Enock Mpianzi farewell

Just a few months after she accompanied close friend Enock Mpianzi to their primary school farewell, a Grade 8 girl said goodbye to him yesterday at a memorial service at the high school he was enrolled to attend this year.

Remembering Mpianzi yesterday, Mpho Molelekeng said the news of her best friend’s death had shattered her heart.

Molekekeng, who is now a high school pupil in a different school, shared her heartache at the service held in Parktown Boys’ High School’s hall.

It was attended by his classmates, the principal, teachers and ex-pupils from his primary school as well as Gauteng MEC for education Panyaza Lesufi.

Enock’s best friend, Mpho Molelekeng, speaks during the memorial for Enock Mpianzi at Parktown Boys’ High in Parktown, 28 January 2020. Picture Neil McCartney

She said she had known Mpianzi since Grade 4 and had been in the same class as him until their final year of primary school.

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“He was a kind and friendly person … our relationship was so close. We knew each other (very well). We used to have deep conversations, even through hard times we were there for each other. He used to motivate me about things in life. In Grade 7 he was my farewell partner.”

Parktown Boys’ pupils during the memorial for Enock Mpianzi at Parktown Boys High in Parktown, 28 January 2020. Picture Neil McCartney

She spoke of Mpianzi’s excitement in December when he told her he would be attending Parktown Boys’ High School the following year.

Recounting the conversation she said: “He asked me ‘Mpho which high school are you going to? You know I’m going to Parktown Boys’. I asked him, you know it’s only boys? He said yes, he knows and then we started talking about our memories of primary school.”

The memorial for Enock Mpianzi at Parktown Boys’ High in Parktown, 28 January 2020. Picture Neil McCartney

She was at home asleep when she got a surprise call from one of her primary school teachers about Mpianzi’s death.

“She said ‘Mpho! Do you see that Enock has left us? Enock your best friend! Go on YouTube!’.”

After seeing the news for herself, Molekekeng called her former classmates in shock.

“It was so emotional and sad and then I cried. It was something that I never accepted … we are coping (now) a little bit but not very much.”

The pair came from Brixton Primary School, a school in a working-class suburb close to central Johannesburg.

Enock’s former teacher, Ms Modipa-Xaba speaks at the memorial for Enock Mpianzi at Parktown Boys High in Parktown, 28 January 2020. Picture Neil McCartney

His Grade 7 natural sciences teacher Mapula Modipa-Xaba said: “He was the first person from our school to go to Parktown Boys … you know, we are a no-fees school. That’s where we come from, so it was an honour and I said to myself, I’m going to keep checking up on (him) because I know he will excel in sports and maths.”

She described Mpianzi as a lovely boy who was quiet and reserved, but who knew how to stand his ground “in a beautiful way”.

The memorial for Enock Mpianzi at Parktown Boys’ High in Parktown, 28 January 2020. Picture Neil McCartney

She said she was surprised when he turned up in a suit for the farewell with Mpho, and that he had looked the happiest she had ever seen him in his final moments at the school.

“I wish a miracle could happen,” she said through tears. “I can’t believe he is gone, and gone in the way that he left.”

The memorial for Enock Mpianzi at Parktown Boys High in Parktown, 28 January 2020. Enock drowned during a school outing recently. Picture Neil McCartney

Another grief-stricken teacher was Mpianzi’s English and language teacher who taught him for two years.

“He was such a humble, disciplined and well-mannered boy. He was never involved in any fights or any dirty games that kids normally do in school. He was very well behaved.

“It broke my heart because knowing the child and the way he behaves, it was like I lost a child … It’s still painful now.”

– jenniffero@citizen.co.za

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