{"id":48271,"date":"2026-01-24T10:27:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T10:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=48271"},"modified":"2026-01-24T10:27:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T10:27:52","slug":"sefatsas-absence-deeply-felt-at-oakwood-primary-principal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/01\/24\/sefatsas-absence-deeply-felt-at-oakwood-primary-principal\/","title":{"rendered":"Sefatsa&#8217;s absence deeply felt at Oakwood Primary: Principal &#8211; SABC News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Seven-year-old Lesego Sefatsa was filled with promise and his absence at Oakwood Primary School in Vanderbijlpark is deeply felt.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s according to the school principal, Wilmari Botha, who was speaking at Sefatsa\u2019s funeral in Sebokeng.<\/p>\n<p>The little boy was among the fourteen learners who died in Monday\u2019s tragic crash between a scholar transport taxi and a truck along the Golden Highway.<\/p>\n<p>A joint funeral is being held for Sefatsa and his uncle, 18-year-old Phehello Motaung, at their home in Sebokeng. Both were in the same taxi when tragedy struck.<\/p>\n<p>Botha says Sefatsa was a precious gift, a young life filled with promise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThough his time with us at Oakwood family was short, his life mattered and his memory will live on in our hearts. At school, he was part of our family. As we remember Lesego today, may we find strength, peace in God\u2019s promises and comfort in knowing that Lesego now rests in the arms of our heavenly father,\u201d says Botha.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Video| Motaung and Sefatsa\u2019s funeral service:<\/strong><br \/><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Vanderbijlpark Crash | Motaung and Sefatsa&#039;s funeral service\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/73x-FCPiOos?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, a teacher of the late six-year-old Bohlale Lekekela has described her as a bubbly child who enjoyed putting a smile on other people\u2019s faces.<\/p>\n<p>Belinda Njuze says Lekekela was passionate about school. The six-year-old was a learner at the Elshadai Christian School in Vanderbijlpark before her untimely passing.<\/p>\n<p>While paying tribute at the child\u2019s funeral service, Njuze said her classroom will be bleak without Lekekela\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBohlale was a bubbly child, always happy. We enjoyed having Bohlale in the class; she was the child who loved people very much,\u201d says Njuze.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">WATCH | The funeral service of six-year-old Bohlale Tlhonolofatso Lekekela, one of the 14 victims of Monday\u2019s horrific scholar transport crash, is under way in Welkom in the Free State. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8y7wk4XQr7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/8y7wk4XQr7<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SABC News (@SABCNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SABCNews\/status\/2014974577596617126?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">January 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>                    <!--begin code --><\/p>\n<p>                    <!--end code --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Sefatsas #absence #deeply #felt #Oakwood #Primary #Principal #SABC #News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seven-year-old Lesego Sefatsa was filled with promise and his absence at Oakwood Primary School in Vanderbijlpark is deeply felt. That\u2019s&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48274,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48271\/revisions\/48274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}