The family of a Newton Technical High School pupil is devastated after the sudden death of the sports-loving teen, who collapsed midway through a soccer game at the school.
Zoliswa Nkata, 58, the mother of 17-year-old Bulela, said she had thrown herself next to her son’s body on the school’s main soccer pitch just after 4pm on Thursday last week, crying hysterically as it was being closed up in a body bag.
The Grade 10 pupil and first-team defender collapsed after heading a ball during a match against Strelitzia High School.
A postmortem revealed that he had had a severe respiratory tract infection.
Speaking from her New Brighton home on Tuesday, Nkata said she had learnt of Bulela’s collapse from one of his friends.
She said the family had presumed the police would be notified by the school of her son’s death, but when she went to the Mount Road police station on Monday she discovered it had not been reported.
An inquest docket was subsequently opened.Provincial education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said while it was standard procedure to report the death of a pupil on school premises to both the police and the department, the shock of what had happened had possibly delayed the school staff’s response.
Mtima said Newton Tech principal Theo van Brouwershaven had reported the incident to the department on Sunday and it was in the final stages of an investigation, but no foul play was suspected.
“Educators take on the role of parents at school and the staff was traumatised and shocked by what had happened, as any ‘parent’ would be,” Mtima said.
“While it is standard procedure for the school to report the incident, the staff and coaches were dealing with so much at the time they might have only been able to report it on Sunday – which they did.”
The death certificate states the immediate cause of death as “severe lower respiratory tract infection”.
Nkata – who has six children – said Bulela had been a healthy, energetic teenager with no history of cardiac or respiratory problems.
He had also not been on any medication and appeared to be in good health on the day.
Nkata said first responders Gardmed Ambulance Service’s failure to notify police or take Bulela to the nearby Netcare Greenacres Hospital was also worrying.
She said a paramedic on the scene had told her Bulela had suffered a heart attack.
When she asked why the police had not been called, the paramedic apparently told her “this isn’t a crime scene”.
“What concerns me is that the school didn’t contact me.
“The friend said he had collapsed after heading a ball .
“According to the friend, the coach thought he was faking an injury, until they rolled him over onto his back and saw his eyes rolling over.”
Gardmed owner Dave Gardner said paramedics had done all they could to save Bulela.
“When we arrive, our first job is to stabilise the patient – which was the case.
“He could not just be taken to hospital. There is nothing much different that the hospital could have done,” he said.
“The paramedics did all they could, [but] he was declared dead on the scene.
“By law, if someone is dead we can’t move them.
“Usually the school would report the matter to the police,” he said.
Bulela’s elder brother, Khayalabathembu Peppeta, 27, said he had gone with his mother on Monday to ask the police if a case had been opened.
“The police also found it strange nothing was reported as they said it is normal procedure to notify them,” he said.
Van Brouwershaven said the school mourned the death of the “well-behaved, talented soccer player”, but declined to comment further.
Mtima said the matter was still under investigation.
Bulela’s funeral will be held at New Brighton’s Nangoza Jebe Hall at 9am on Saturday.