'Rikus, you touched our lives' — school remembers teen lost at sea
Large and impossible to miss, five 3-D printed letters stood side by side on a Gauteng school field on Thursday night.
Spelling Rikus, they glowed brightly in the dark — a name his parents had come to say goodbye to at a memorial for the son they had so lovingly raised for 18 years.
“Thank you for showing us what he meant to you,” Anzél said in an emotional letter read out at her son’s service, held at Noordheuwel High.
The same school where Rikus completed his matric was packed with mourners, who gathered to remember the teenager who had disappeared while snorkelling off Ponta do Ouro in Mozambique, two weeks before Christmas.
He had travelled there with a large group of friends to celebrate the end of their high school careers.
They had entered the water to observe marine life, but everyone came back up, except Rikus.
For 22 days, his worried parents, along with his older sister Clarise, searched for him, even driving all the way from their home in Krugersdorp to the coast north of SA.
“Wherever Rikus is, he is with the Lord,” said Reverend Braam Smith.
“That is the promise the Psalms teach us: whether he is in the sea or on land, on earth or in heaven, we do not know — but we do know that he is in the presence of God.
“That comforts us … Rikus touched many people’s lives.
“Everyone here is like an Olympic athlete who has received the torch.
“You have a responsibility to carry it forward.
“The light you received from Rikus must be lived out. What happened to Rikus can happen to anyone. Rikus invites you to turn to the Lord,” Smith said.
Marietjie Muller, Rikus’s former maths lit teacher, said she was still coming to terms with what had happened.
“On January 15, 2025, he walked into my classroom,” said Muller.
“He was a beautiful boy and was one of those boys who always looked you in the eye,” she said.
“He always greeted you and was hardworking. In his first test with me, Rikus got 85%.
“He was very hard on himself about that — he wasn’t happy.
“After that, he never got less than 94%.”
He had an infectious work ethic, she added.
“Rikus was in a class with some naughty boys,” she said.
“They were quite skilled at making animal sounds. She claimed to have heard crickets one day while in class.
“I looked at the boy I suspected could make cricket sounds and asked, ‘Was that you?’ He looked at me and said, ‘It was Rikus’.
“Without thinking twice, I said, ‘It cannot be Rikus’. I then looked at Rikus and he smiled and turned red.
“He said, ‘Ma’am, it’s me’. I asked, ‘What? You making cricket sounds?’
“He said no — and simply lifted a small container.
“The container was full of crickets. One of the crickets had escaped and ended up under his desk, and that’s when the blame fell on him.”
A friend of the teen described him as having been an angel.
“He was sent straight from above … he was an incredible human being — one of a kind.
“Rikus really helped me through last year, helping me out of some very dark places.
“He didn’t ask questions; he just helped me.
“He always made time for me. He also helped me see other people differently, in a good way.
“During the final exams, he helped me as well,” he said, tearfully.
Jaco Bothma said the young man looked like Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
He read a letter on behalf of Anzél.
“They say friends, parents, colleagues, and even strangers — we simply cannot say thank you enough.
“Thank you to all the friends and parents who showed up on that first day, who immediately stepped in and said, we are here — you are not walking this road alone.
“To those of you who put your own lives on hold to stand with us — thank you.
“To those who helped search — thank you.
“We are endlessly grateful to everyone … you for showing us what he meant to you,” he read.
IOL