KAGO SAUL: I am an ex-Parktown Boy. I attended the school in Grade 8 and 9. I also lost my brother in a drowning incident. I know the culture of silence that exists at this school. I would classify this as an initiation camp. They took away the camp during the Collan Rex case. Why has it come back? We need to speak against the culture of silence at boys schools and do away with toxic masculinity.
The Rosebank Killarney Gazette asked protesters their thoughts on the circumstances surrounding Enock Mpianzi’s death.
Here is what they had to say…
ROXANNE CLARK: I feel that Parktown Boys’ High School has acted negligently. Boys shouldn’t have been allowed in the water without a life jacket. I think it shows disregard for a poor black child. The principal should be fired. Sending 200 boys to this kind of a camp is disgraceful for such a prestigious school.NATALIE RIDGARD: I am here to express solidarity with Enock’s family and demand an account of what happened. In South Africa, there are problematic views on the life of the black child. Why is it black children are dying? The whole activity of building rafts shows the ridiculousness of the initiation culture. The activity doesn’t even make sense.
