DREAMS of going to grade 2 next year seem to be shattered for a seven-year-old grade 1 pupil at a school in KwaMbonambi, northern KZN.
The boy’s mother (39) has taken him out of school.
She claims the boy was captured by a tokoloshe in the boys’ toilet. She fears if she sends him back to school he may disappear forever.
“I will wait until January next year to find him another school where he will repeat grade 1,” she said.
She came back from hospital two weeks ago to find her boy had not come back from school. She and her relatives found him in the school toilet at about 6.30pm.
“The door was unlocked but he was standing still and looked frightened,” she said.
She said they prayed for the boy, who told them he had been captured by a short man with a long beard.
“We assumed it was a tokoloshe. I was advised by elders not to question my son further as the creature may follow him. I have no money to seek help from traditional healers.
“My son seems normal but he sometimes gets nightmares and he doesn’t want to go back to school,” she said.
Chairman of the KZN Traditional Healers Association, Thandonjani Hlongwane, said for less than R100 the mother can get strong muthi to chase away the tokoloshe.
Chairman of the SGB, Paradise Jali, said they respect the mother’s decision.
“We will establish a regular prayer programme. That is the only way we can fight this.”
Kwazi Mthethwa, spokesman for Mthandeni Dlungwana, KZN Education MEC, said they need a full report from the school.
