Teens drown after playing truant from care centre

Two teenagers who played truant from the Themba Club Child and Youth Care Centre in Munster and went for a swim drowned in Palm Beach, last week.

Thabo Nondaba (17) and Lungelo Goba (16) who drowned were among five children who left the centre.

The MEC for KwaZulu-Natal Social Development, Nonhlanhla Khoza expressed her concern on Tuesday that the children were able to leave the centre, resulting in the death of two of them.

Khoza said according to the department’s understanding the children are supposed to leave the centre when going to school, and said that all centres are supposed to be secured all the times, as they house children.

Palm Beach is within walking distance of the Child and Youth Care Centre.

According to reports, Goba started swimming and within seconds he disappeared in the water, Nondaba followed in an attempt to rescue him, but failed. Sources said the three remaining boys ran back to the centre to report to a senior childcare worker, who went to the scene and immediately reported the matter to the police.

Khoza said the sea search team started looking for the boys under water, but they could not be found. She added that Nondaba’s body was swept ashore by a current on April 15 while Goba’s body washed ashore the next day, where Nondaba’s body was found.

Both boys were identified by a senior childcare worker.

The Themba Club admits both girls and boys and has two residential facilities. The girls’ facility is in Margate and the boys’ in Munster, near Palm Beach. Khoza said

Nondaba was an abandoned child and all his life he has been in alternate care.

“The death of these children leaves us in so much pain. We are heartbroken as a result of this incident in which we lost two young lives. As a department, we will do a thorough investigation on what exactly happened and how the children were able to escape without being noticed by their minders. We want to get a thorough report from the board of the Child and Youth Care Centre with regards to the safety of children in their facilities. We are not expecting children to leave these facilities,” said Khoza.

She added that the department has a Service Level Agreement with the centre and it will be coordinating adequate support to be provided to the families. Khoza urged Child and Youth Care Centres to ensure that they protect children at all times.

She further added that a team of social workers was dispatched to provide psycho-social support to the centre.