• A Gauteng family has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education after their child was burned in a science lab
• The nine-year-old boy allegedly obtained a dangerous chemical that was left unattended in an unlocked school laboratory.
• The incident happened during a school event, and the burns permanently damaged his hearing in one ear

With nine years of experience, Tebogo Mokwena, a News in brief current affairs journalist, has provided insights into South Africa’s infrastructure challenges to the Daily Sun and Vutivi Business news.

GAUTENG — Department of Gauteng Education is facing an R8 million lawsuit after a seven-year-old boy lost his hearing due to a dangerous chemical at school.

7-year-old child burned in the laboratory

citizen reported that the incident took place at Phoroong Town Hall School in Khutsong in the West Rand. Onkarabile Thobowa was at a coloring event hosted by the school when they ran out of paint. Onkarabile and 25 other students went to the school laboratory to look for paint.

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They found a chemical they mistook for paint and started dousing each other with it. However, they sustained injuries and while the 25 children sustained minor injuries, Onkarabile was seriously injured. One of his ears suffered permanent damage and was equipped with a hearing aid.

The family should sue the Department

The family opted to use the department because they saw that it was unwilling to take responsibility for the incident. Beauty Thobowa, the child’s mother, said their legal representatives had sent a letter of demand to the department. She believes that if the department had stepped in and taken her son to get quality medical carehis hearing would not have been affected.

She blamed the school for forgetting to lock the science lab and not getting help with her medical bills even though she is unemployed.

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Daughter Nkosazana sues MacG

In a related article, News in brief reported that Nkosazana Daughter sued MacG for over 1 million lei.

This was after Podcast and Chill the host claimed that Amapiano artist Sir Trill was not the father of her child. He claimed that Master KGwith whom Nkosazana worked on a collaborative album, is the father of her baby.

Source: News in brief