TZANEEN: Manslaughter case opened following toddler’s death

Following the death of an 18-month-old toddler who died after falling into an open borehole pit in Joppie village outside of Tzaneen recently, local DA Councillor, René Pohl and the DA Constituency Head for Tzaneen, Desiree van der Walt, laid charges of manslaughter against the Mopani District Municipality’s (MDM) Municipal Manager, Republic Monakedi and the Director of Technical Services, Jonas Shilowa.

Desiree van der Walt told the LETABA HERALD, “This is negligence from the Mopani District Municipality’s side. If they’ve sunk a borehole and not found water, it must be closed off.”

Van der Walt stressed that the officers from MDM who are in charge of infrastructure must be held accountable for the death of young Mighty Baloyi, whose body was only retrieved on Monday, November 5, two days after he fell into the open borehole pit.

Read: Major rescue operation near Tzaneen for toddler in pit

Read: UPDATE: Residents in shock after toddler tragedy

During a television interview, the Mopani Municipality Mayor, Nkakareng Rakgoale tried to shift the blame to the contractors who dug the boreholes. Van der Walt firmly argues that after the  contractor has dug the hole and found the borehole to be dry, it is still the Municipality’s responsibility to inspect the work done and declare the area safe before the contractor is paid.

During the interview, Rakgoale also said that boreholes are being dug closer to houses so that community members become guardians of the boreholes, preventing theft of equipment.
Digging boreholes so close to residential properties and then leaving dry boreholes open is clearly a recipe for disaster, as witnessed with the tragic death of Mighty Baloyi.

“It causes an unsafe environment for the community,” concluded Van der Walt. It remains to be seen whether the family of the toddler will open a civil case as well. At the time of going to press, there had been no response with regards to the case opened by Councillor Pohl.