The head of Johannesburg’s Summit College died on New Year’s Eve after a 40m fall at Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls.
Michael John Drake (50) fell while trying to recover spectacles he had dropped, Zimbabwe police confirmed on Tuesday, German press agency DPA reported.
Inspector Casper Nhepera said Drake fell to his death near the 100-year-old Victoria Falls bridge, which links Zimbabwe and Zambia, after dropping his spectacles while taking photographs.
Rocks and vegetation are notoriously slippery along the lip of the 80m chasm, which is wetted continually by spray.
”He went down the gorge in an effort to retrieve his spectacles,” said Nherera. ”During that process he slipped and fell 40m down the gorge. His girlfriend accompanying him immediately informed the police, who went to the scene.”
Drake transformed Gauteng’s Summit College from an ailing ”bursary” school into a viable, multiracial, gender-equal school in the 11 years he was headmaster, Summit College governing board chairperson Graham Kerr-Phillips said in a statement.
Zambian-born Drake began his schooling in Borrowdale, Zimbabwe.
He matriculated with a first-class pass from Damelin College in Johannesburg and left the University of the Witwatersrand with a BA degree and a higher diploma in education.
He taught geography at Northcliff High School, Johannesburg, from 1980 to 1993, receiving merit awards in 1983 and in 1985 when he was appointed head of the geography department.
He was a sought-after lecturer at geography conferences, served on several committees of the Independent Schools Association of South Africa and the South African Heads’ Institute, the Independent Examination Board and United Schools Sports Association of South Africa.
”The shock which his family, colleagues, pupils and friends have experienced is without measure,” Kerr-Phillips said.
”He was idealistic, inspirational and had a wonderful sense of humour. He had the ability to mock adversity and as time passed, the ability to extract victory out of the jaws of defeat.
”He groomed board chairmen and members, deputy heads, students who have achieved high academic honours and students who have achieved high sports honours. But perhaps his greatest skill was his ability to find hidden talents in all his students, colleagues and friends and, thereafter, his ability to motivate them to develop those skills.
”This has meant that all those he has touched have been and are blessed by knowing him, have performed to their highest potential and have achieved the satisfaction of contributing to their community to the best of their ability.” — Sapa