THE families of two Lerotholi Polytechnic students who allegedly drowned in the Mohokare River last month say they only want to see the remains of their children in order to give them a decent burial.
news
March 6, 2021
STAFF REPORTER
3 min read
Families of missing Fokothi students want answers
Lesrotholi Polytechnic administration office
Mohloboi Leanya, 22, and Tseko Malokotsa, 22, who were both second year students are believed to have drowned on February 18, during an 'initiation ritual' that is performed by some of the students at the institution better known as Fokothi in the river every year.
Leanya’s sister Mothepane said on Thursday that she and her family have come to a point where they just want to have her brother's remains so that they can find closure and move on with their lives.
“It is devastating enough not to know what happened to my brother, but his body not being found makes it even worse.
“What is more painful is that the institution is not communicating with us while we are desperate to know what really transpired on that fateful night,” she said.
She is doubtful of the information that was given to the police by the other students, saying if at all her brother drowned during the 'ritual', she believes his remains would have been found by now.
Advocate Lebohang Malokotsa, who is Malokotsa’s brother said the whole family is devastated especially their mother who is not coping with her younger son’s disappearance.
Like Mothepane, he is concerned about the institution’s silence in respect of what happened, adding, “the only thing they say is that students go to the 'ritual' voluntarily and the school management does not have control over it”.
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Police spokesperson, Senior Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli said an ongoing search for the two students has not yielded any results.
“The search party that has been searching in the Mohokare River for the two missing students instead found two other bodies, of a man and a woman who were also reported missing earlier,” he said.
It is not clear what the so called ‘ritual’ in the Mohokare River entails, but it is alleged that students, who refuse to perform it, are mistreated by others inclusive of former students.
It is further believed that this puts the students who are not part of the practice under a lot of pressure for acceptance, forcing them to participate in this fatal exercise.
In 2009, the institution had to cancel its graduation ceremony following the death of a student who was brutally beaten by former students during a similar ritual.
If both Leanya and Malokotsa are indeed dead, that brings the number of students who died during the exercise in recent years to over six.
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