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Cyrene High School

Whinsley Masara, Chronicle Reporter
MASIYE Camp authorities said yesterday that there was no negligence or dereliction of duty on their part following the drowning of two pupils from Cyrene High School in a dam at the camp on Tuesday.

Responding to accusations by parents who said the drowning of the two pupils was as a result of the teachers and guides’ negligence, the camp administrator, Major Shephard Madhaka said there was no negligence on the part of workers at the camp.

Melinkosi Mhlanga (17), a Form Five pupil and Blessing Ngwenya (14), a Form One pupil drowned in the dam when a canoe capsized and both boys were buried yesterday.

The deceased were among 31 pupils from the Anglican Church-run boys’ boarding school who had visited Masiye Camp for a school outing.
Pupils paid $55 each for the trip.

Major Madhaka said internal investigations have indicated that a group of pupils sneaked to the dam and jumped into a canoe and as such the guides could not monitor their activties.

“What we established is that the pupils sneaked to the dam and played with the canoe without the guides or teachers noticing. The pupils who sneaked were among the pupils who were under one of our tour guides, Mr Arnold Ndlovu. Mr Ndlovu did not notice that some of the pupils had sneaked to the dam hence they were alone at the dam leading to the tragedy,” he said.

Major Madhaka said the camp staff had experience of handling school pupils and it receives children of all age groups regularly.

“We receive about two groups every month but no such incident has happened before,” he said.

Major Madhaka said they always ensure that measures are put in place to protect the children but unfortunately this time around an accident happened.

Matabeleland South acting Provincial Education Director Mr Lifias Masukume referred questions to the Primary and Secondary Education Ministry spokesperson Mr Patrick Zumbo.

Mr Zumbo was not immediately reachable.

Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Philisani Ndebele said investigations were in progress.

“Yes we received a report on the drowning of two pupils on Tuesday. I cannot say much as investigations are still in progress,” he said.

Melinkosi is said to have drowned after diving into the dam to look for Blessing who could not be located after the canoe capsized. — @winnie_masara