DRIEKOPPIES – On Monday afternoon police divers recovered the body of a 26-year-old man.
The incident occurred on Sunday when Mr Sunday Mashele and his friends were swimming in the Mlumati River, an activity which has become the norm for most residents.
The river is one of many which spokesman for the Nkomazi municipality, Mr Cyril Ripinga, described as “unofficial swimming pools”.
Ripinga said what was more worrying, was that adults and even law-enforcement officials were swimming in these rivers.
“We acknowledge that we don’t have recreational facilities in the subregion, but we cannot allow people to endanger their lives by swimming in rivers with danger lurking about,” he said.
This year there have already been three reports of people drowning.
Ripinga reiterated the municipality’s plea to communities to refrain from swimming in rivers.
“As a municipality we are already looking into how we can cordon off these areas, however, it is very difficult because we can’t really close off the entire river.
We are once more appealing to communities and especially adults to help us prevent this from happening again.”
