by Nokubonga Mthethwa
Durban - A playmate and neighbour of the two boys who drowned in a river near uMlazi has told how he tried in vain to come to their rescue.
Nkosikhona Dlamini, 10, and his brother, Mnotho Dlamini, 7, drowned while playing in the eMkhazini River at Ezimbokodweni on Monday.
A 10-year-old boy said the boys had come to his home and invited him to join them at the river but he had been forbidden from going.
Later he went to the river to look for his friends and found them in distress.
“On my arrival at the river Mnotho was too far to be reached, but Nkosikhona was a little bit closer. I dived in and pulled Nkosikhona, but I could not take him out,” he said.
He said he then ran to summon help from nearby neighbours. “When we got back to the river they had vanished,” he said.
Nonsikelelo Dlamini, 40, the boys’ mother was too emotional to speak to the Daily News, but asked a close relative, Snegugu Mthethwa, 19, to speak on behalf of the family.
Mthethwa said the boys had not gone to school on the day of the tragedy.
She said Nkosikhona and Mnotho had asked their younger brother, Sakhiwe, to join them at the river, but he refused and told them their mother was against them swimming in the river because it was not safe.
“They then went and asked their friend, the 10-year-old boy, to go with them, but his grandmother refused too. They still went alone,” said Mthethwa.
Nkosikhona and Mnotho, both Grade 3 pupils at Kuhlekwethu Primary School, had dreams for their future.
Mthethwa said when the children were playing at home, Nkosikhona would say he wanted to become a soldier, while Mnotho would say he wanted to be a policeman.
The mood was sombre at the Dlamini home on Tuesday.
Women prayed, while neighbours arrived to offer their condolences.
A neighbour, Lindiwe Msomi, who stays a stone’s throw from the river, said she saw the boys passing by her house and heard them making a noise while they were swimming.
“I then heard a boy screaming for help. I quickly went out and called my other neighbour.
“When we arrived at the river, there was nothing we could do. The boys were nowhere to be seen,” Msomi said.
Msomi said it was not the first time there had been a drowning at the river.
“It happened a few years ago, but we never thought it could happen again. Even our kids swim here.
“We adults cross this river to fetch firewood from the other side. This river has never been deep but I think the heavy rains made it deep,” she said.
KwaZulu-Natal Emergency Services spokesman, Robert McKenzie, said the boys were seen to be in distress by bystanders, who called emergency rescue services.
“Paramedics arrived on scene to find distressed bystanders. There was no sign of the boys,” McKenzie said.
Police search and rescue officers arrived and found the boys at the bottom of the river, he said. Divers recovered the bodies at about 6.30pm.
Police spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane, said an inquest docket had been opened.