Nompumelelo Mbatha’s heart still breaks and the tears still flow when she recalls that her son committed suicide because his teacher bullied him for being gay.
Sibusiso Mbatha, 12, attended Khehlekile Primary School in Thokoza where a teacher, Simon Dhlamini, allegedly told him to leave his “gayism” in the township.
Although Dhlamini was disciplined and suspended for two months for his conduct, he was reappointed at the school just weeks before the first anniversary of Sibusiso’s death.
Despite being found guilty of misconduct, a teacher who bullied a gay pupil remains in the classroom. The family and LGBTQ+ activists demand justice.
Teacher reappointed week before Sibusiso’s suicide
Mbatha said: “My child’s life has ended forever, yet Dhlamini gets a short suspension and goes back to teaching in the same school where he was homophobic. Dhlamini is a murderer.
“If he had not said those words to my child, he would have never taken his life.”
On 23 October last year, Sibusiso was involved in an altercation with another pupil and was sent to Dhlamini, who publicly reprimanded the two boys and allegedly insulted Sibusiso.
Mbatha said Sibusiso came home looking devastated
“He told his cousin that he was traumatised by what Dhlamini had said.
“Then, he sat in his room and later said he wanted to play jumping rope outside… only for us to later be called out to find that he had hanged himself in the bathroom outside.”
Sibusiso came home looking devastated
As she relived that trauma this week, she said it was as painful as if she was hearing the news for the very first time.
Later that day, they found a WhatsApp message that Sibusiso wrote: “I want to kill myself because of the bullying I get from my teacher Sir Dhlamini. He always says things that hurt me.”
Mbatha said she cannot understand how a teacher could have difficulty accepting her son’s sexuality when his whole family had always accepted him.
