A 75-year-old man ended his Sunday with a splash when he crashed into a residential swimming pool at a show house at Matumi Golf Estate.
The man, who prefers not to have his name mentioned, has been an estate agent since 1986 and now works for a well-known real-estate agency in Mbombela.
At about 16:00 he approached one of its show houses. He was the only occupant in the car.
As he arrived, he saw that there was no parking place as other estate agents were also there. He drove up the steep incline which ended in a bend in an attempt to turn around. The next thing his Suzuki Swift was halfway in the pool.

“I couldn’t see the pool, I just heard a thump and then I realised what happened,” he said in a British accent. “The first thing I thought was, ‘Oh no, what can I do now’?”.

He phoned his wife, who is currently in London, immediately after the incident. “She thought I was joking. Maybe it’s because I’m always joking around with her.”

It’s only after he sent her photos when she believed him. “She’d better come back and look after me.”
It took him about 15 minutes before he was able to get out of the car.  “I was very calm, it was only when the water started seeping into the car, that I got anxious,” he said.  When he got out, he was up to his neck in water. “The water was quite nice,” he said.
He owns the Suzuki and says he doesn’t really know what the damage is yet.  “They are pretty good little cars, so I’m sure they’ll be able to fix it,” he said. Luckily it’s fully insured.
“It’s only on Monday that I realised I could’ve drowned, and I didn’t have one drink. I needed one after it though.” His family says he believes that he should not drive any more. Van Wettens was able to remove his Suzuki swiftly from the pool.