'It’s enough - we can’t cope': Lesufi at memorial for Parktown pupil

Enoch Mpianzi was remembered at a memorial service at Parktown Boys' High in Johannesburg on January 28 2020. The 13-year-old grade 8 pupil drowned during an orientation camp at the Nyati Bush and Riverbreak Lodge in Brits, North West. His body was found in the Crocodile River nearly two days after he went missing.

It is becoming the norm to issue death certificates instead of matric certificates, said Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi on Tuesday at the memorial of Enoch Mpianzi.

“How difficult it was that ... when I met you, you were in a body bag."

These were the words of Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi on Tuesday at a memorial service for Parktown Boys' High School pupil Enoch Mpianzi.

The 13-year-old boy died almost two weeks ago on his first day of school at an orientation camp in Brits, in the North West, held for grade 8 pupils. He was allegedly swept away by a strong current during a water activity. His body was discovered two days later.

"How difficult it was that we never interacted - but when we did, it was not nice,” Lesufi told mourners.

The service was attended by Mpianzi’s former teachers from Brixton Primary School, where he completed grade 7 in 2019. A few of his former classmates and current pupils attended the service.