Cape Town - The family of the 11-year-old Simon’s Town Primary School learner who walked home to Khayelitsha, has seen an outpouring of support and encouragement from across South Africa and further afield.
Grade 6 learner, Lifalethu Mbasana, walked a distance of around 35km on foot last Monday, after a Golden Arrow Bus Service (GABS) driver refused to allow him on board due to a lost ticket.
While Lifalethu was walking the great distance, missing person alerts were widely circulated online, as his whereabouts were unknown to his frantic family for several hours.
Lifalethu arrived in front of the family’s gate at around 9.50pm with a group of law enforcement officers who had spotted him in Harare, just a few minutes away from his home.
The child’s mother, Xolelwa Siba Mbasana, said the ordeal had proved to be a unifying moment.
“The way people responded in this situation, I almost feel like they were the parents. It felt like they were responsible for my son. Everybody was so hurt, everybody was so scared, and everybody is so thankful.”
Xolelwa Mbasana said she received messages from individuals in Zambia, Lesotho, and other faraway places.
She also expressed gratitude to her boss, Tariq Jo Fensham, for assisting when the family was not sure what to do.
The school’s teachers assisted in searching for the boy, driving along routes he was believed to have taken.
A stranger in Muizenberg has since offered the family a weekend stay at her guesthouse to assist them in recovering from the ordeal.
Father, Sipho Mbasana said the family still experienced post traumatic stress.
While he felt helpless, he said the Faith and Hope Neighbourhood Watch supported him during the searches.
“They called and comforted me. “They’re based in Mitchells Plain but they drove all the way to Muizenberg and then we created a strategy to move around and do the searches,” he said.
The family said while GABS offered free trips for Mbasana for the rest of the term, and family counselling, they felt this was not enough and that more could be done.
Initially, GABS had offered a week of free trips for Mbasana.
Yesterday, Lifalethu an his two siblings were given new school shoes and hygiene products donated by Kasi Angels Foundation.
Founder and CEO, Gerald Nomlala said he missed out on two years of schooling due to lack of school shoes and was now giving back to those in need.
He assured Mbasana that he would provide school shoes until the learner reached Grade 12.
GABS public relations manager Bronwen Dyke-Beyer confirmed Lifalethu will be given free trips for the duration of the term and that the family was also offered counselling.
Dyke-Beyer previously said the driver had been suspended and that GABS was involved in the search for the learner. She said company policy was to assist uniformed scholars in situations where they have lost their Gold Cards.