Two families were left devastated after their two boys, aged 11 and 12, drowned in the Nzhelele River at Tshituni tsha fhasi Ha-Malima over the weekend.
According to a close family friend, the two boys, identified as Vhonani Chaele (11) and Pfariso Ramudidibi (12) from Nzhelele Dzanani Musanda, left home on Saturday morning (22 April) with their mothers, who happened to be neighbours, to go to a party at Tshituni Ha-Malima. The party was only for that one day but, exhausted from the celebrations, the mothers decided to stay in Tshituni village for another day. On Sunday afternoon (23 April), four children between the ages of 11 and 14, including Vhonani and Pfariso, sneaked away from their parents to go for a swim in the river.
According to the 14-year-old who went along with the other boys, they realised that the river was deep, but they went in anyway. They swam for a while when he suddenly noticed that two of the boys were busy drowning. At first, he thought they were joking, but then he saw the situation was serious and tried to rescue them, but he could not, so he rushed for help while the other boy watched over Vhonani and Pfariso.
When the older boy came back with help, one of the boys' body was already floating in the water. The other body was only found by police divers at around 20:00 that same evening.
The acting Provincial Commissioner of Police in Limpopo, Major-General Jan Scheepers, confirmed the incident. "Members of the community managed to retrieve the body of one of the boys and thereafter sought assistance from the police, whereby the SAPS's Search and Rescue Divers managed to retrieve the second body. Investigations are continuing to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident. Parents and guardians are cautioned to ensure that their children do not take part in swimming activities unsupervised and to be extremely careful to ensure they don't lose sight of their children to avoid such heart-breaking incidents," said Scheepers.
The traditional leader of Dzanani village, Vhamusanda Vho-Sydney Khathutshelo Mamuha, said the incident was tragic. He cautioned parents to be very careful when their children are near rivers. "Whenever you go out with children, please look after them, especially in a foreign village. The situation is very difficult, but we are trying to assist in every way possible. Whoever can assist the families with the funeral is welcome to do so," said Mamuha.