​Thembisa Shologu
MEC for Education, Matome Chiloane will on Friday, April 26, 2024, introduce an independent investigative law firm at Daveyton Skills School following the death of two learners during a discipline camp.
Siphamandla Peterson (15) and Sibusiso Sibiya (17) drowned at a camp at Rock Falls Adventure Ranch in Centurion on Monday, 15 April 2024.
The two learners were part of 90 learners from the school who attended a discipline camp held by non-governmental organisation Rising Stars Generation in Pretoria from Friday, 12 April 2024, and were scheduled to return to school on Monday.
Mourners gathered at Rabasotho Hall in Tembisa on Wednesday to pay their final respect to Peterson and Sibiya. 
Addressing the mourners, MEC Chiloane sincerely apologised to the families and informed them that the department has appointed a law firm to investigate circumstances that led to the loss of the two leaners.
MEC Chiloane said the department was determined to help the families get the answers they were looking for. 
"They are not investigating because we  do not know what should have been done but we are bringing an independent group because sometimes colleagues protect each.  To avoid this we are bringing people from outside who cannot be contaminated by the politics in the department but to do their work ethically with integrity and honesty. 
"I agree with the families that this is not a time to defend ourselves, and I am not going to stand here and say it is not me, but it is this one. 
"I should take accountability when these problems take place and the best way to demonstrate that we have learned is what we are going to do going forward because we have a responsibility to protect our children. We need to make sure that this never, ever happens again," said Chiloane.  
He stressed that children should play together and not bury each other as it was becoming a norm.  
Chiloane further elaborated the need of school excursions and why they could not be cancelled by the department but that there was a need to strengthen the protocols. 
"We have to make sure that we strengthen the policy because every time there are trips, I have been asked, are you going to cancel school trips and my answer is no.
"These trips are meant to broaden the children's minds; they play a major role in their lives, they expand on what they have learned at school or in class, they get exposed to labs and if the trips are cancelled it means leaners cannot compete with each other provincially," said the MEC.  
The two families have called on the department to hold those responsible for their children's death  accountable.