Tshwane floods: Mamelodi residents’ long wake over drowned man’s body as authorities ‘take hours to arrive’
The man drowned after heavy rains in Tshwane. The ambulance service arrived soon after the recovery of the body and confirmed the death. The police arrived four to three hours later, but the forensics team arrived in the evening.
Residents of Soul City, an informal settlement wrecked by floods in Mamelodi, kept an informal wake for up to four hours over the body of a drowned man, waiting for police and even more hours for forensics services to arrive.
Rekord previously reported the death of at least one man following Friday and Saturday morning heavy downpour across Pretoria.
The deceased’s body was discovered floating in the murky waters in-between flooded shacks by community members around 13:30 on Saturday.
A relative and neighbours of the man recovered his body and covered it with a blue blanket. And the long wait for authorities started.
Police and paramedics were called to the scene between 14:00-15:00.
The Gauteng emergency services arrived and confirmed the death and then left at about 15:30. However, the wait for the police took over three to four hours after the first call was made by community members. Mamelodi East police arrived around 18:35 with a relative of the deceased.
ALSO READ: Tshwane flood update: One swept away by water, search and rescue continues
Police spokesperson, Constable Lethabo Mashiloane, who also assisted residents in getting police on site, said the matter of the late arrival “will be investigated”.
“Acting station Commander Colonel Tsebe will lodge an internal investigation to determine what the reason for the late response was,” Mashiloane said.
“He further sent his heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased.”
One of the first arrivals on the scene community leader, Alvin Muavha described the late arrival of services as “poor service delivery we are used to”.
“I feel bad. They [police and forensics] should have been on time because they know that today there was flooding.
“The police and forensics should have been ready to help people much faster because there was a disaster here today [Saturday],” he said.
Muavha said the community was “not entirely surprising” that police arrived late.
“It is not the first time that police took time to respond. One time, there was a stabbing incident at a nearby tavern and it took time for them to respond.
“We feel sometimes that we are not prioritised because officials tell themselves that we are here [in the settlement] illegally. Things should not be like that.”
Muavha said the police waited with the community for forensic services technicians who arrived around 21:00 – about eight hours after the body was recovered.
WATCH : Resident tells of discovery
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