Deceased matric pupils remembered

WHILE many Northern Cape parents were encouraging their Grade 12 children to study hard for the final National Senior Certificate (NCS) examination that kicks off on Monday, the dream of seeing their child’s matric marks came to a sudden end for parents whose children died during the last year of their schooling career.

Several deaths of matric pupils were reported this year in Kimberley, with the latest being the murder of Grade 12 Kimberley Boys’ High pupil Amogelang Assegaai, who was shot on Sunday, October 23.

A 47-year-old man has been arrested and charged with the murder of Amogelang.

Another Kimberley family whose hopes of watching their child enter the next phase of their life were demolished is the family of Technical High School matric pupil Wafeeq van Rooyen.

Feeki, as he was affectionately known, died in a motor vehicle accident in Barkly Road on September 15.

He and his friend, a fellow Grade 12 pupil, were on their way to a maths class at the time of the incident. The father of the friend was driving the vehicle. The father and son survived the accident.

His grandfather, Abdullah “Trox” Alexander, said they had never imagined that they would have to end the year engulfed in such grief.

“Feeki died a few days before his matric dance. They were on their way to mathematics classes as normal. He was in his exit grade and we were all so excited that his 12 years of schooling had come to an end. We had so many plans for him,” said Alexander.

“In fact, everyone had plans and advice for him as to what he should do with his life. However, he wanted to study electrical engineering. We were looking forward to seeing him grow into a man. One thing is for sure, we can plan, but Allah knows how all our plans should go … Allah is the best planner and we accept his death,” Alexander added tearfully.

He added that they had been dealing with the tragedy “one day at a time”.

“Feeki was staying with me. It was only the two of us in the house as his grandmother had passed away. I miss him tremendously as he always used to make a cup of tea and leave it by my bedside table … We miss him every day, but we deal with the loss every second of the day. His room is still the same and we can still feel his presence in the house. The only thing is that we cannot see him and that is what hurts so much.”

Alexander said he realised after the incident that his grandson was loved by many people.

“I always thought I was the popular one, but after Feeki died we had so many people coming to the house to pay their respect. Many were youngsters and their parents. They all told us that Feeki was a respectful child. One could clearly see that they were really hurt by Feeki passing and not just coming out of respect. We still miss him dearly, but we will see him again one day.”

Feeki's mother, Fatima Alexander, said she had had the opportunity to spend some “special time” with her son before he passed away.

“I came from Cape Town for the matric dance. However, the date of the dance was postponed. I got to spend two months with Feeki and those were the best two months of my life. Feeki was my only. The day before his passing, he gave us a model parade in his matric dance suit. He told me not to take any pictures of him in the suit, but I secretly snapped a few shots of him. I felt so proud of him. His loss has left us with a huge, gaping wound in our heart,” she said.

The mother of a Tetlanyo High School pupil Thabisho Booi, who also died in a motor vehicle accident, on October 24 in Galeshewe, said she knew her son was going to reach great heights in his career one day.

Dineo Booi said Thabisho was a top-performing pupil.

“Thabisho applied to study Law at the University of Cape Town (UCT). We had already received letters from the university stating they were awaiting his final school results. He had passed with great marks during the past three school semesters. He was an excellent student and I had no doubt that he would make it into the law fraternity.

“We were all so excited for him and he was also in a hurry to finish his schooling. It is so sad that his life had to come to such a sudden end. I had so many dreams and plans for him. I am, however, grateful for his life. Although it feels like it was short, it was wonderful to have him around,” Booi sighed deeply.

The Northern Cape Department of Education stated that a total of 12 matric pupils have been reported as deceased this year.