WATERVAL BOVEN – Members of the community looked in horror as the body of a severely mentally handicapped boy who drowned in a rock pool in the Elands River, was retrieved by police divers on Wednesday.
According to police officials on the scene, a group of boys decided to cross the N4 from Waterval Boven to go and swim in a rock pool just above the Elands River Waterfall. According to some of the boys they were sliding down slippery rocks when one of their friends disappeared under the murky water. Some of them rushed home to summon the help of adults, but it was already too late.
More than a 100 onlookers had gathered by the time the police divers arrived and stood watching helplessly as Capt Joey Potgieter spent about an hour in the rock pool in search of the body. He was later identified as 12-year-old Boy Madonsela.
Cries of shock from onlookers echoed between the rock walls of the river pool when Potgieter emerged with the body. Members of the local police station assisted with retrieving the body which had to be carried op a steep embankment while onlookers rapidly disappeared back home over the N4.
Boy was a pupil and resident of Estralita School for Special Needs in Lydenburg. He was a senior phase pupil who was severely mentally handicapped. He used to live with his grandmother in Lydenburg but after she passed away in 2014, the school was able to provide him with permanent residence.
Boy was visiting a relative in Waterval Boven for the school holidays and was set to return to the residence on Monday January 11.
According to headmaster of Estralita, Ms Hanlie Swanepoel, the news came as a massive shock to them. “He was a very quiet, attentive child with a bright future ahead of him. When you spoke to him he would stare at you intensely and pay very good attention. Our hearts are very sore for losing him.”
At Estralita children do get swimming lessons from the resident physiotherapist, but Swanepoel adds that the circumstances at the rock pool might have exceeded his abilities.
According to Capts Joey en Pottie Potgieter of the police, cases like these are becoming far too common. From the start of December they’ve had to retrieve the bodies of four teenagers and three children under the age of 10.
About half of the drowning cases in the province they attend to are of minors. “During the hot summer months over the holiday season these cases become more since children want to cool off by having a swim. Mpumalanga has no shortage of rivers and dams and for many children these dams and rivers are their only option.”
Potgieter also added that in the majority of the cases the children were swimming without adult supervision. Very often the nature of the terrain is what leads to the drownings as flowing rivers are unpredictable for children and water with low, or no visibility could easily cause children to land in areas that are deeper than they anticipated.
Parents are urged to educate children about the dangers of swimming and never to allow them to swim without adequate adult supervision.
Also see: Child drowns in quarry
