Ann Eveleth
A Zambian student committed suicide after his South African boarding school expelled him and booked a ticket to send him home without informing his parents.
International School of South Africa (Issa) principal Ed Khabele said he told lower sixth form student Tabo Mwenechanya (18) at a disciplinary inquiry on October 31 that he should confess to an alleged drinking incident with fellow students.
“I told Tabo that I know his parents, I know how strict they are and I know they will be very disappointed in him. I said he should go back to his house and think about telling the truth,” said Khabele.
Tabo did go back to his hostel, but not before picking up a rope from the Mafikeng school’s physical education department. He then wrote an emotional farewell letter to his family and friends, tied the rope around his neck, and hung himself. A fellow student found his body.
He left the world a four-page letter titled “Suicide note”, with the words: “You should know that you were the best family in the world, but I have done too much to turn back. Please forgive me.”
Khabele acknowledged that he had failed to inform Tabo’s parents of the charges against their son or of the school’s decision to expel him and send him home.
He has refused to provide the Mwenechanyas with details of the circumstances leading up to the tragedy – including the nature of the charges against Tabo – claiming the matter was sub judice.
Tabo’s father, Silane Mwene-chanya, wrote to Khabele on November 10 in an effort to piece together the chain of events that prompted the suicide.
Khabele wrote back on November 20 that he was “at this stage prevented from giving you any information, as the matter is presently sub judice, both in respect of the school’s board of governors and the South African Police Service”.
Mwenechanya, a Lusaka-based consultant, says he is still waiting for information from the school. He has asked Amnesty International to intervene.
Based on information he has been able to piece together from Tabo’s friends, he blames Khabele for subjecting his son to “mental torture so aggravated that it contributed significantly to the tragic consequences of a well- adjusted and highly motivated young man to lose the balance of his mind and take his own life on that fateful morning”.
Khabele denies that Tabo was treated unfairly. “[Tabo] was an above-average student and very popular with his peers. But he kept himself well out of the way of his teachers. He has had a history of disciplinary infractions during his three years at Issa, and he was warned the last time that another violation would result in his expulsion,” said Khabele.
Khabele said Tabo’s file contained details of at least six prior disciplinary infractions since he joined the school in January 1995, including three prior incidents involving alcohol. The school sent Tabo for psychiatric counselling in early 1998.
The psychiatrist, Dr Florinda Taute, described Tabo as “a very quiet boy who didn’t like to speak about himself and never really opened up. He was troubled within himself,” she said.
Taute last saw Tabo on October 12, when he informed her that he no longer needed counselling as “everything was fine”.
Mwenechanya said his son had been disciplined at home for his previous misbehaviour, but argued that his son had progressed well in school and had earned sufficient trust from school officials to be appointed to the post of prefect.
“His academic progress was very pleasing indeed as was clearly demonstrated by his performance in his public school-leaving examination. He already had a clear vision of his future career. He knew where he was headed. The expulsion from Issa which represented the apparent death of his dream was, undoubtedly, a major reversal,” he said.
Mwenechanya said his son’s friends told him that Khabele told Tabo his parents had been notified of the expulsion. “Our son died believing that we had been informed of his predicament and made no effort to reach him. We believe this totally broke his spirit and his will to live as it left him nowhere to turn,” said Mwenechanya.