A 20-year-old deaf matric pupil from Tzaneen faces the prospect of missing her preliminary examinations — and possibly repeating Grade 12 — after her hearing aids were destroyed when neighbourhood children splashed her with water during Spring Day celebrations.
Mpho Mhlanga was walking home from school when a group of peers from her neighbourhood doused her with water. Both her hearing aids were damaged.
She missed school on Wednesday and Thursday, during one of the most critical stretches of her academic year, as she is writing prelims and attending revision sessions.
"We have to accept she will not write"
Her father, Alfred Mhlanga, said the devices were making strange noises by the time she got home. The family dried them and recharged them, but nothing worked.
"I'm unemployed and we need to get her new hearing aids. At a public hospital, we will have to wait for at least six months to get new hearing devices. I cannot afford R8,000 to get them at a private institution."
"She's devastated. Her classmates are doing revisions and my child is sitting at home because she can't hear without the devices. It's very painful that we have to accept she will not write exams after working so hard since January."
Mpho was diagnosed with deafness in Grade 4, a year she repeated twice.
A father caught in the middle
Mhlanga said he is torn over whether to lay charges, because the children responsible are neighbours Mpho normally plays with.
"I don't know whether I should open a case or not because these children know about her condition but they still splashed her with water. Their parents only apologised and said the kids were merely playing."
He raised his daughter's plight during a call-in to the Clement Manyathela Show on 702.
"That's not enough"
Andiswa Tube, director at Tube Attorneys in Pretoria, said the family is entitled to open a criminal case over the damage to the hearing aids and any other property damaged in the incident.
"Everyone has a right to open a criminal case."
On the parents' explanation that the children were only playing, she was blunt: "No, that's not enough."
But Tube warned that a criminal case alone would not solve the immediate crisis, because the legal process is slow.
"It is important for those parents, for the benefit of the child, to approach the departments that can actually do something about it, which are the department of health and the department of education."
She said both departments have the capacity and resources to help replace the hearing aids while criminal or civil proceedings run their course. The family could also pursue a civil claim against the parents of the children involved.
Part of a wider Spring Day pattern
The incident was one of a string of disturbing reports across Gauteng on Tuesday, raising questions about whether a celebration once associated with harmless childhood fun is turning into a cover for reckless and violent behaviour.
Videos circulating on social media show children splashing cars and delivery bikes with water. In some clips, vehicles nearly ram into groups of children while swerving to avoid being splashed. Some children were seen attempting to steal from the vehicles they targeted. Delivery bike drivers were filmed falling off their bikes trying to avoid charging children.
In Refilwe, Cullinan, outside Pretoria, Tshepang Nyathi, 21, was fatally stabbed during Spring Day celebrations following an alleged altercation with a 53-year-old man who had been splashed with water.
Private security firm Tshenolo Private Investigations said three criminal cases have been registered with police over Spring Day incidents brought to their attention, with at least three more in the process of being opened.
Spokesperson Bongani Sibanyoni said reported incidents include theft, bullying, intimidation and assault.
"Three [children] are of school-going age and two are slightly older. The alleged perpetrators have been identified and the matter is in the hands of authorities."
Sibanyoni urged other victims and witnesses to come forward.
The case at a glance
| Detail |
Information
|
|---|---|
| Pupil | Mpho Mhlanga, 20, Grade 12 |
| Location | Tzaneen, Limpopo |
| Incident | Splashed with water walking home on Spring Day |
| Damage | Both hearing aids destroyed |
| Replacement cost | R8,000 privately; up to 6 months' wait at a public hospital |
| Family situation | Father unemployed, cannot afford replacements |
| Immediate risk | Missing prelims, possibly repeating Grade 12 |
| Legal advice | Criminal case possible; also approach health and education departments; civil claim an option |
| Related death | Tshepang Nyathi, 21, stabbed in Refilwe, Cullinan |
| Cases opened | 3 registered, 3 more pending (Tshenolo Private Investigations) |
