Council ignores community’s pleas about dangerous water canal

A dangerous stormwater canal has claimed the lives of four children in four years and it still has not been secured.

It has been 4 years since Maria Mnanzana lost her 8-year-old boy Mosimanegape Peter Mothabe, in the canal near Extension 7. His brother jumped in after him to try and rescue him, but he, too, got into difficulty. Fortunately for him, someone passing by noticed little fingers clinging desperately to the edge of the wall and dragged him out.

The angry mother says Tlokwe City Council has promised her countless times that it would properly barricade the water canal to avoid further deaths.

“They once put a fence around, but it was useless. Do they want another child to drown before acting?” she asked.

Councillor Stone Matlhabe accuses the Tlokwe City Council of dragging its feet in addressing the issue.

“I have reported this hazard many times. Do they want another child to die? “I have also told them that this canal is environmentally unhealthy. I usually chase the children away when they play near the canal after the heavy rains,” he said.

As recently as a month ago, another two children almost drowned after heavy downpours, says Mnanzana. Luckily, they were helped by security guards who were patrolling the area.

“This canal is dangerous, especially after heavy rains. In another incident, an older man saved a boy who was drowning but, in the process, the force of the water overpowered him as he could not swim. He would definitely have drowned if one of his co-workers had not acted quickly and pulled him out with a spade,” she recalls.

She still misses her son, whose lifeless body was discovered by a 23-year-old man while coming back from a night vigil at his church.

“He found him next to the water canal,” she said. “I was heartbroken when I heard that my son had drowned. And, to think that his brother could so easily have drowned, too…

“I could feel in my heart that something bad was about to happen because it had been raining heavily.”

When asked why there are no barricades, and when the municipality proposes to do anything about the hazard, Tlokwe’s spokesperson, Mr William Maphosa says fencing was erected on both sides of the canal in the past.

“These fences have been vandalised every time the municipality has erected them. The municipality is currently working on a new storm water master plan and is considering two options to safeguard the community. The first one is to cover the existing canal with concrete slabs. The other would be to erect a clear view fence on either side of it.”

Maphosa concluded that the department of Infrastructure will have to budget for the implementation of either option.