By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Cousin and friends of a South African boy who fell into manhole have spoken up on why they kept quiet after the incident took place without telling anyone for possible rescue.
They claim that they kept quiet out of fear.
While he was playing with a cousin and friends, the Soweto boy fell into a manhole but all of them fled and failed to tell anyone.
Johannesburg Emergency Services officials have been searching for the victim, Khayalethu Magadla since Monday after the incident.
The cousin and friends only revealed what had happened the following day, prompting a search by the Joburg Emergency Management Services.
The Soweto boy who has been missing since Sunday, was with friends and a cousin when he slipped and fell into a manhole, also known as well (of water) but they all fled home and didn’t tell anyone what had happened.
Details of what happened only emerged the following day, almost 24 hours since he fell into the manhole.
Speaking to News24, family spokesperson and Aunt, Khanyisile Tshabalala, said Khayalethu Magadla, six, and his seven-year-old cousin decided to go play outside with friends at a nearby park after church on Sunday at around 15:00.
Later that day, the cousin returned home without Khayalethu and when the family asked about his whereabouts, he said the last he saw him was when they were outside.
“He didn’t say anything, he just asked for food because it was dinner time, he sat down, ate, watched TV and then went to bed.
“We started getting worried when the hours passed and Khayalethu did not return. That’s when we went out to go look for him that Sunday night around 19:00,” said Tshabalala.
She said the family looked for Khayalethu around the neighbourhood with no luck. The family then went to his friends’ homes to seek answers.
“When we got to each of the friends’ houses they all said the last time they were with him was when they were playing outside.
“We continued to search for him, but there was no luck and that was when we called out for assistance from the community and sent out a missing person post on social media,” said Tshabalala.
As the community continued with the search, Khayalethu’s parents went to report the matter at the Moroka police station, however they were met with disappointment.
“When his parents got there, the police told them that there were no vans available which meant that we had to search for the boy ourselves.
“His parents then decided to come back and we carried out the search ourselves without the help from the police,” said Tshabalala.
Around midnight the community became angrier and more agitated because the police had failed to arrive and assist in the search.
“The community and the family returned to the police station only to find three police officers present in the entire police station.
“We asked for assistance again and they managed to dispatch only two vans, of which we were told did not belong to the station which was confusing because they had Moroka police branding on them,” said Tshabalala.
She also alleged that the police only went to the friends’ homes and asked if they knew anything and when they couldn’t get any information from them they returned to the police station.
“They did not even continue helping us search for him at the park, they just left us,” said Tshabalala.
Disappointed by the turn of events, Tshabalala said the boy’s family and community members went back to their respective homes.
Uncovering the truth
On Monday morning, Tshabalala said she and Khayalethu’s mother went to his school to report that he had gone missing. They also had a bit of hope that they would find him there. However he was not at school.
“During that time, we also thought if we could convince one teacher to speak to the cousin, maybe he would be able to reveal what happened. We managed to convince the teacher and the two spoke in a separate room at school.
“The boy confessed what happened and his first response was to cry,” said Tshabalala. While that was happening at school, Tshabalala said a mother of one of the friends called the family back at home to notify them of her son’s confession.
“The friend told his mom that they were playing outside at the park when Khayalethu slipped and fell into the hole. They ran back to their homes because they were scared.
“One of our family members back at home gave us a call and informed us of the news.
“At that time, the teacher also told us of the cousin’s confession.”
She added: “We started calling police and rescue team to try and assist by going down the drain to find him.”
According to Tshabalala, the rescue team arrived around 11:00. By then, they [family] had already been standing there with community members waiting for them.
“When they arrived, they didn’t do much but check the hole and tried to go to the other side where the water comes out to check, but there was nothing,” she said.
According to Tshabalala, the rescue team told them that they could not go down the manhole because there was a lot of pressure from the water and if they went down the hole they would have not been able to breathe, even in their gear.
“They also mentioned to us that Khayalethu could be stuck in the hole and sometimes it happens that the body will flow after three days,” she said
Khayalethu’s father, however, did not respond well to the wait, said Tshabalala.
“He even said that if they [rescue team] couldn’t go in, he’d go in and look for his child.
“He was in pain because he felt like he is not getting any help,” said Tshabalala
She added: “In fact, we are all hurting. We feel as if we are not getting anything that is solid that gives us hope that he will be found. We are just waiting and somehow accepted that he is no longer with us; the only thing we want now is his body.”
Joburg Emergency Management Services spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi, said it was unlikely that they could have found anything in the hole the boy fell into and urged the community and family to understand why they couldn’t go in at the time.
“The community members who are complaining about us not going into the hole should understand that we are unlikely to find anything there because there is water flowing.
“Right now, we have opened up the manholes along the system and we have sent our guys to go inside with cameras to try and see if there is anything obstructing along the system,” he said.
Mulaudzi remained positive about finding the boy and had stated that the search would continue until he is located.
When News24 spoke to the police in relation to the allegations made by the family regarding their experience at the Moroka police station, Gauteng police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Sello said the family should file a formal complaint with the station commander or district commissioner so that investigations could be conducted and necessary steps could be taken.
