
The child was standing in a queue when a huge tree fell on him.
A Standerton father of a child who got paralysed by a massive tree at school is still looking for answers as the Mpumalanga department of education “refuses” to say what really happened on the day.
Melokuhle Shabalala, a Grade 3 learner, is lucky to be alive after surviving a horrific incident of a tree that fell on him while he was standing in a queue for food.
The incident, which left him paralysed, happened in November 2021 at Nyandeni Primary School in the Standerton township.
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Nine-year-old Melokuhle was left paralysed and wheelchair-bound with fewer chances of walking again.
He had to be transferred to the Witbank Provincial Hospital after spending several hours at the Standerton Provincial Hospital.
Distraught father Nkosana Shabalala said the department has since kept him in the dark as to what had happened to his child.
“It’s so painful that up until now I still do not know how the incident happened and how my son landed in the hospital,” he told the reporter.
“I can barely eat and sleep when I see him lying in bed every day thinking he will never walk again,” said an emotional Nkosana.
Since the schools reopened in January 2022, Melokuhle could not attend school due to his condition.
“He is always asking me when he will go back to school every morning when he sees his sister Mpilwenhle preparing to go to school,” the father said.
Nkosana said the department is refusing to share with him the report as well as the video of the incident.
“This is what pains me a lot because it denies me the right to know what happened. Why are they hiding from me?” asked the father.
Education department spokesman Jasper Zwane told 013NEWS that the matter is in a process of going to court.
“The matter is now handled by lawyers of the department and those representing the family,” Zwane said.
“There are discussions currently happening between ourselves and his legal representatives,” he said Monday 28 February 2022.
(edited by LS)
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