Pretoria – Government has called for the Hawks to investigate the circumstances around the death of Thabang Makhoang, who drowned in the swimming pool of the North West University’s Potchefstroom campus during an “orientation” programme for first year students in 2012.
At the time, an investigation by the university reported that Makhoang died at an event dubbed the “Fruit Festival”, but could not explain how he drowned in the presence of many other participants without the incident being noticed by anyone. The investigating team exonerated any individual or entity of the incident.
However, Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, said on Wednesday that new information has emerged around the incident.
The new information, according to the department, suggests the existence of video footage in relation to the student’s death, written statements by former security personnel that worked at the university at the time of the incident and audio footage supporting the view that some crucial information could have been missed from the investigation of the incident by the university.
“These are still allegations but to put them to rest, there is now a need to hand over this investigation to the Hawks.
“I will also engage with the university so that we can all cooperate in the interests of justice, getting to the truth and putting the matter to rest so that the family of this young man can also find peace and closure on this sad and tragic incident,” Nzimande said.
This information has come from an independent organisation of alumni from various South African higher education and training institutions called the Higher Education Transformation Network (HETN).
“The allegations contained in this new information from the HETN are quite serious and cannot be ignored. We have to get to the root of this. A young life was lost here and unless these are thoroughly investigated, this will remain a dark blot on the institution and the sector generally,” Nzimande said.
The minister added that he was deeply concerned about the situation.
Following the exoneration of any individuals by the university, the department had requested a further investigation by the South African Human Rights Commission to establish whether or not “initiation” activities were being practiced at the university and if such practices infringed on human dignity of students and assess any human rights violations during orientation activities.
The department said a report to the minister was still outstanding. – SAnews.gov.za
