Gift taken from family
Words could not describe a mother’s sorrow, when a child and precious Gift is taken from her arms, never to be seen again.
The Mathebula family mourns the loss of 12-year-old Nhlanhla Gift Mathebula, after his body was found in a hole filled with rainwater in Kromdraai.
On Thursday, March 20 residents and onlookers near Extension 10 formed a crowd around a hole where the boy had drowned hours before – his body not yet recovered.
“The incident occurred around 15:00, but his body was only found at 19:00, four hours later,” one of the people on the scene said.
“This is the second time a tragedy like this had happened. The hole was dug by illegal sand traders and it filled with rainwater over time,” the woman stated further.
Apparently Gift and his friends from school had gone to the hole on Thursday for a swim.
Gift’s mother, Celebracia, described how she received a call about the tragic incident at around 15:15.
“I was still at work,” Celebracia recalls – her voice still raw. Gift’s grandmother looked after him during the day, but did not know about the boys’ plans to go for a swim.
Residents, who had heard about the boy who had drowned, repeated what had happened. When Gift’s friends realised he had been gone under the water for some time, they searched for him in the deeply dug hole. When they were unsuccessful in finding him they ran home to find help.
The crowd of bystanders, who hastened to the scene, remained near the hole until Gift’s body was recovered.
Ward councillors in Extension 10 later called for a meeting about the hole and discussed closing off the area around it.
*The memorial service for Gift will be held on Saturday at the Pretoria Memorial Road Cemetery.
