BASIC Education Minister Angie Motshekga has expressed her condolences to the families of the six Limpopo pupils who died in a car crash.
On Friday the pupils from Jim Chavani Secondary School in Vhembe district had hitch-hiked and were picked up by a bakkie as they were returning from school.
The pupils, five boys and a girl, were on their way, when the driver of the bakkie lost control of the vehicle, crashing into a house in Ximixoni Village. The driver and another passenger are in a serious condition in hospital.
“It has indeed been a difficult week for Limpopo Province, the Vhembe District and the education sector in general, considering that the same district lost a learner, 15-year-old Lufuno Mavhung, under very unfortunate circumstances in the same week. She was laid to rest on Saturday.
“Losing our children within days, young learners who had dreams and a bright future ahead of them is devastating for us,” Motshekga.
She said the national Department of Education will continue to support the province and school during this tough time.
“We join the Limpopo MEC of Education in expressing our heartfelt condolences to the families and the school community of the learners we lost,” she said.
Limpopo’s education sector has been under the spotlight in the past week, following the death of Lufuno who had committed suicide after she was violently beaten by a fellow school pupil. The brutal attack was captured on video which went viral.
The video shows a defenceless Lufuno, being slapped repeatedly by the perpetrator in front of a group of pupils who laugh and cheer on. She does not fight back but tries to explain herself to the pupils.
Once she got home, Lufuno told her brother who informed the school principal. She later overdosed with pills.
The Limpopo Education Department said it had suspended three pupils involved in the Lufuno case while her family say they want justice.