Nkomazi Local Municipality to rehabilitate borrow pits after more drownings
The municipality says all borrow pits closer to residential areas will be rehabilitated in order to curb the drowning incidents.
Nkomazi Local Municipality (NLM) is currently on a quest to rehabilitate borrow pits closer to residential areas after a series of drowning incidents have been reported in the past couple of months.
The latest incident involved two siblings who drowned in Ericsville on June 17. These pits, which eventually formed dams, are a result of construction work. The companies dug pits to use the soil and left them open.
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According to the NLM’s spokesperson, Cyril Ripinga, the latest tragedy has propelled them to go on a rehabilitation drive, even though some of these pits were not the results of construction that had to do with the municipality. “One of the main challenges we are faced with, is the fact that the chiefs who give land for these constructions do not follow-up to ensure that the land is rehabilitated to eliminate possible danger such as drowning.
“The incident that happened at Schoemansdal was as a result of a borrow pit that was left open after the construction of the Matsamo Mall. A 14-year-old drowned, and there isn’t much accountability. The death of the two siblings has shattered us, and we have sent out a team that will evaluate and give an analysis on how we can go about closing these hazardous dams.”
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The family of the two kids who drowned said they were last seen playing close to the dam. They started searching for them when they did not return home by sunset. “We started searching for them, and eventually the community got involved after one neighbour alerted us that they saw the two children throwing stones in the dam. When we got there, we found the body of the youngest one floating. That is when it dawned on us that both of them might have drowned. We could not find the older one, so we had to wait for the divers the following morning.
“He was eventually found in the afternoon, trapped by roots. It is needless to say that the family is shattered by this ordeal,” said Rendani Silombo, a family member.
The community has supported the move by the municipality to close the dam. “We have lost about nine people to this dam, and seemingly the number keeps escalating. We have contemplated on having the dam fenced as it helps with grazing, but at this point we are certain that it should be closed completely. Fencing it will not guarantee more incidents of this nature will not take place,” said one community member who wished to remain anonymous.
The EFF representatives of Ward 11 has weighed in on the call to have all borrow pits in Nkomazi closed. “This loss remains tragic and agonising not just to the family that lost their lovely sons, but by extension to the entire community whose hopes get doomed by day as the lives of young people, who are meant to be the future, continue to perish.
“We call on the NLM to urgently take the responsibility to rehabilitate all borrow pits in the area, because incidents of this nature are persisting and we are continuously losing lives. This year alone, a number of lives have been lost through similar incidents and no action has been taken thus far to address the problem of borrow pits. Just the past week, a similar incident occurred in Schoemansdal, following an one at KaHoyi Village in January,” read a statement issued by the EFF.
