EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Motlatsi Motsetse was playing with his friends when he got stuck in a mobile toilet.
His attempt to free himself led to his horrific death after the young boy accidentally got trapped trying to climb out of the window!
The grade 1 pupil at Caleb Motshabi Primary School in Bloemfontein, Free State, was playing in the toilets with friends on Friday, 16 September when one of them closed the door, locking him in.
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He decided to climb out through the toilet window but his head got stuck in the frame after he had squeezed his body out, effectively hanging him.
After he was discovered, his body lay in a classroom for three hours while school staff waited for an ambulance and the police to arrive.
Motlatsi’s mum Madiketso Selele (47) said: “My son’s death broke my heart. I wish to ask Bloemfontein and Mangaung residents to assist me to give my boy a dignified burial. I’m an unemployed single mum.”
The Free State Department of Education sent officials from the psychosocial unit to provide counselling to pupils, teachers and others affected by the tragic incident.
Education MEC Tate Makgoe sent his heartfelt condolences to the boy’s family and the school.
“May they find comfort in knowing that we, too, share their pain and sorrow,” he said.
Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thabo Covane said an inquest docket was opened.
Congress of South African Students (Cosas) has called for a full investigation into the boy’s death, and for emergency officials to be held accountable for taking three hours to arrive at the scene. Cosas provincial secretary Thabiso Mabaso said schools across the province were neglected, and mobile classrooms and bathrooms should be replaced with permanent structures.
