A PENS down party ended deadly for Mnyamande High School pupils in Newcastle, KZN.
Three pupils from the school died when they were involved in a car accident on the N11 on Monday morning, 4 December, while returning from the pens down party.
Three other pupils who were in the same car escaped dead with serious injuries, and they are still in hospital.
KZN Education MEC Mbali Frazer has called on all those still planning to host these parties to drop them.
She also called on all the parents and child caregivers to pay attention to their children's movements as most of them sneak out to these parties.
"The loss of these young lives is tragic and wears heavily in my heart as we await the results of the 2023 NSC Examinations, which will now for them be awarded posthumously," said Frazer.
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She also conveyed her condolences to the families of the dead pupils and wished those in the hospital a speedy recovery.
The MEC said that the department had sent a delegation of officials from the Amajuba district to visit the families of the victims and pay respect on her behalf.
The IFP chief whip in the KZN legislature, Thembeni KaMadlopha-Mthethwa, has called for the total ban of the pens down parties.
She said they reiterate their call that the education MEC must take a stand and ban all matric pens down celebrations.
"Allowing such parties to take place is nothing more than a recipe for disaster, as they are often destructive in nature, with unprotected sex and the use of illegal substances being a regular feature of the parties.
"Further, in the past, matric final exam celebrations have claimed the lives of many young people through car accidents, and violence meted out against one another," she said.
