Schoolboy (11) suicide tragedy

AN 11-year-old learner hung himself after being unable to face the pressure allegedly placed on him by his school teacher.

The lifeless body of Lindokuhle Wandile Sithatha was discovered last week hanging from a rafter in the garage of his family’s home in the small rural village of uMkhobose Reserve in eSikhaleni.

The Grade 6 pupil had made a rope of his tracksuit pants and T-shirt.

Even as his distraught family tries to cope with the trauma of his passing, accusations of ongoing child abuse and ‘dark secrets’ at school are being flung.

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‘My brother entered the garage looking for tools and that’s when he found him,’ said the boy’s grieving mother, Simphiwe Promise Khumalo (31).

Speaking to the Zululand Observer on Wednesday, the grief-stricken mother said her son’s tragic death is somehow linked to the verbal abuse he suffered at school.

‘He lost his maths exercise book and was worried about it. He made a side comment to his cousins the day before that if he didn’t find it he would kill himself.

‘He was scared of going to school but we all thought he was just being a kid and just didn’t want to attend,’ said Simphiwe.

According to the mother, the young boy had mentioned to the family that he constantly had to face abuse from the teacher, who apparently used to humiliate him in class.

‘He said the teacher makes fun of him and makes other classmates laugh at him.’

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