‘I keep hoping,’ says dad as he searches for his ‘birthday’ boy

If Khayalethu Magadla screamed and called for help, it would have been muffled by laughter as children played at the Dlamini Park in Soweto on Sunday afternoon. He apparently slipped and fell into a manhole, which was yesterday covered in by a cement slab, a stone’s throw away from the swings at the park.

Family members and residents searched for little Khaya, inconsolable father Kholekile Magadla told The Citizen yesterday. After hours of searching the area, one of Khaya’s friends – who was seen with him before he disappeared – confessed yesterday morning they had been playing near the manhole and hadn’t seen Khaya since.

“I still can’t believe he’s missing,” said Magadla. “I keep hoping someone will find him wandering around and bring him back home.”

Khaya’s sixth birthday is on Monday next week. “It feels like I’m dreaming. We’ve been looking for him since 3pm on Sunday and we haven’t heard anything. The kids he was playing in the park with only told us this morning that they were playing with the plank that covered the hole, which means he might have slipped and fell into the hole.”

Magadla said it felt surreal. He was still hoping for the safe return of his little boy, or at least his son’s remains if he fell into the manhole, to help the family find closure, lay him to rest and also pay their last respects.

“I’m very disappointed in our law enforcement because we’re only seeing them now. I tried to open a missing person’s case; waited at the station until 2am and after that they still claimed they did not have a van – and until this morning they were nowhere to be found,” he said, trying to hold back his tears.

Residents claimed they had repeatedly requested the City of Joburg to close open manholes in the area. Many said they had a huge problem of manhole covers being stolen and, as a result, the manholes were proving to be life-threatening.

“I live close to the park and, apart from asking them to close the manholes, we have also asked them to clean the park, as well as ensure it is safe for children to play in,” a resident, Bonga Ngwenya, said.

“The grass is growing out of control and even if we want to say kids should be careful of where they play, the grass covered these holes to a point where you cannot see where there’s a hole.”

Ngwenya said although the park was made for kids to enjoy, it also harboured drug addicts, thieves and criminals, who have made it unbearable for nearby residents and the kids who wanted to play there.

“A lot of things happen here. There’s another open manhole a few metres away from here, and even if they close this one, we will be back here again, grieving, because of the other hole which they have left open,” she said.

Meanwhile, Olifantsvlei Wastewater Treatment Works spokesperson Seipati Nyauza said they were on the lookout for Khaya’s remains and would keep in touch with the family.

“The hole is 1.8m deep and although I don’t have much information right now, I have been told that if anyone fell into the hole they would not survive,” she added.

Robert Mulaudzi, from the City of Joburg Emergency Management Services, said the search-and-rescue operation was called off at 7pm last night.

“We will resume again tomorrow morning,” Mulaudzi said. “We can confirm that the City of Joburg Emergency Management Services search-and-rescue unit, together with Joburg Water technicians were on site where the child slipped in the manhole.”

The circumstances surrounding the incident were still subject to an investigation, he said.