Pupil killed by peers because of Facebook

“We as a family did not anticipate Iviwe’s passing at all because he was a young man who frequently expressed the belief that he was too young to die and that he still had much to accomplish in the world.

“He was also a child who was always ambitious and who frequently imitated how he would appear on TV because that was his dream,” this is what Iviwe’s mother-like figure, Babalwa Bikitsha-Kota, said.

Iviwe Tyalana, 16, was a student at Lamplough High School in Butterworth and doing Grade 11. On Tuesday last week, two students—a girl and a boy who are friends—violently assaulted Tyalana against a wall outside their school. He later passed away in an East London hospital on Wednesday last week. A Facebook quarrel was the cause of death.

Bikitsha-Kota told this newspaper that they were shocked by Iviwe’s death and that he did not deserve to die the way he did.

“I reared Iviwe, who is my cousin’s child. He was like my son to me, and he was extremely ambitious. He frequently imitated people on TV and declared that one day people will watch him on TV since he wanted to study to become a journalist.

“For instance, if you visit his TikTok account, you will see that he has admirers. He was a young man who was adored by others and who also loved himself; he simply loved people. His untimely death still shocks us,” Bikitsha-Kota stated.

She said that the school has not done enough to combat bullying in Lamplough. She said that the parents of the children who killed her cousin’s son had not paid them a visit.

She stated that he arrived bleeding and unable to talk properly on Tuesday, so they hurried him to Butterworth, from which he was sent to an East London hospital.

What the two students did, according to a student who did not want to be named, is unacceptable. The student stated that they could deny it all they want, but they were seen hitting and tossing Iviwe against the wall. The student continued by saying that they were also seen on Facebook.

“Iviwe was such a sweet, sensitive child that his classmates mistakenly believed he was gay. On Tuesday, he had a disagreement with one of the students who hit him, who is gay, on Facebook, and they ended up fighting at school. Yet he did not deserve to die in this manner. As students, what we want is that they be arrested and made to make an example of,” the student that witnessed it remarked.

Iviwe will be laid to rest on Sunday, March 5 in Mpenduza village, Mission in Butterworth.

Despite having knowledge of the occurrence, the Eastern Cape Department of Education has not yet taken any action.

According to Bikitsha-Kota, the case was opened at a police station in Butterworth, however the detective has not yet spoken with them about the specifics of the case. The two accused pupils are reported to have attended school on Monday this week but not on Tuesday.