Whistleblower Allegedly Reveals How Bafana Sithole’s School Principal and Deputy Killed Him.
Millions of people in and around the Republic of South Africa already know the sad story of Bafana Sithole, a young and handsome high school student. Whose bad end was caused by lies and the fact that he didn’t have a chance to defend himself?
Just to remind you, the news is going around that Bafana Sithole, an 11th grader at Kriel High School in mpumalanga, recently killed himself after a girl named Amanda Ndzimande said he raped her. As the situation got worse, he knew he might not win the case, so he used his tie to hang himself in a school store.
Even though pictures of both people involved have been passed around, many people haven’t heard what the school did when the case was brought up. How did they try to settle the case and make sure that whoever was found guilty got the right punishment?
But a student who didn’t want to be named leaked information about Bafana Sithole’s case to the well-known Twitter user Advovo. The screenshot of the chat that was made public showed that the student said no one believed Bafana and instead made him feel bad.
He said that the principal and her assistant were mean to him. They gathered around him, called him a rapist, and scared him. They didn’t stop there. They are also said to have taken away all of his awards and medals without telling his parents.
The person who blew the whistle found out that when the school has disciplinary hearings, family members of the people involved must be there. However, in Bafana Sithole’s case, the school didn’t call his parents or the South African Police service
This new information has hurt a lot of people and made them angry at the school. They want the school to be sued and the people in charge to be arrested. Here are some responses;
Let’s be fair, society doesn’t give men a chance to explain themselves. They are guilty until proven innocent.”
“The needs to do something, even if it means closing the school. If this is the end result, why are there adults in the building?”
“Okay, the school did wrong by him. Was that the only way to handle the situation?
“This is so sad.” “Both the school (Principal and Deputy) and the girl need to be held responsible for this.”
“What proof do you have that the victim lied, you people who say she did? If there are problems with how things are done, it could be the school’s fault. It’s not the victim’s fault that she reported what she says was a violation.”
Police in Mpumalanga can’t prove a link between a boy’s death and false claims that he was falsely accused of rape.
Police in Mpumalanga could not confirm that a Grade 11 Horskool Kriel student who killed himself had been wrongly accused of raping another student.
Bafana Sithole died on November 17 in a classroom. Both the police and the provincial education department are looking into what happened.
On social media, it was said that a classmate had accused Sithole of rape, but that she later took back her accusation and said it was all a joke.
Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, a police spokesperson, said that the police did not have any proof that a student admitted that she had made up the rape claim against Sithole.
So, we can’t say that the girl made up the story about the boy, said Mohlala.
He said that they would keep looking into it.
On social media, people are calling for justice for Sithole using the hashtag #JusticeforBafana. There is also a petition asking for the girl to be brought to justice. There was a picture of the young girl.
Emma Sadleir, an expert in social media law, says that children who are “in trouble with the law” or who have been convicted before they turn 18 cannot be found.
She said that children are fully capable of committing a crime at age 14. However, if a child is found guilty of a crime, they won’t be named until they turn 18.
Naming and shaming a minor is not in the public interest,” she said. “Defamation law also requires that posts be true and for the public’s benefit.”
Lisa Vetten, a researcher at the University of Johannesburg, says that it’s important to be careful and sensitive when dealing with things that involve children.
Vetten added:
People should keep in mind that she is still a kid. She still has a life to live, and we need to help her learn from what she did wrong and get her life back on track.
“If this thing goes viral on social media, people might be able to google her name in 15 years and find this. There must be a different way to deal with this than how you would deal with an adult. It needs to be done so that she can get back into society and not have to live with this for the rest of her life “she told me.
The Commission for Gender Equality told Sithole’s family how sorry they were earlier this week.
In a statement, Javu Baloyi, a spokesperson for the commission, said that they were saddened by Sithole’s death and asked the police to make sure that justice was done.
“We also know that the Department of Education will decide what to do once it gets a report from the investigation team. Meanwhile, the police have started an inquest to find out what caused the student’s death.”
Baloyi also said that the commission would keep an eye on the investigations by the police and the department, as well as the inquest.
Men and boys were told to report any kind of abuse, harassment, or bullying to the commission.
If you or someone you know is having trouble with their mental health, you can call the SA Depression and Anxiety Group’s (Sadag) 24-hour mental health helpline at 0800 456 789, Sadag’s WhatsApp counselling line at 076 882 2775, the SA Federation for Mental Health at 011 7811852, or LifeLine South Africa at 0861 383 322.