By Slindile Maluleka
Two mothers are mourning the deaths of their children who drowned in rural parts of Umzumbe on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast.
Nobuhle "Mili" Ngcobo, 14, died while crossing the raging Umtsila River to get to school last week.
Lungelo Mkhize, 9, drowned on Tuesday when he and two friends went swimming in a manhole.
One of his friends is in a stable condition at the GJ Crookes Hospital in Scottburgh, after he was saved when the third friend called a passer-by for help.
Nokwanda Ngcobo, 51, said she should never have allowed Nobuhle to go to school last Thursday.
Heavy rains drenched the province and caused flash floods that resulted in widespread destruction throughout the region last week.
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Ngcobo said the family had lost their only hope of a better life.
Nobuhle, a Grade 8 pupil at Mabuthela High School, was with her niece, Lwazi Mseleku, 15, when the tragedy occurred.
Mseleku said: "When we reached the river and saw it overflowing, Nobuhle said we should pray. When we were done, she tested the water with her foot, and that is the mistake she made.
"She slipped, fell into the water and when I tried to grip her hand, she was out of my reach.
"Nobuhle drifted further and further away.
"I ran back home to tell them what had happened."
The schoolgirl's funeral will take place this weekend.
Nobuhle's siblings did not get the chance to complete matric because their father and breadwinner died in 2007.
The family makes ends meet with their mother's disability grant and a social grant received by one of the grandchildren, whose mother died in 2004.
When the Daily News arrived at Mkhize's home yesterday, a relative, Clotida Mkhize, said they did not know how they were going to pay for the funeral.
"Every time it rains, especially at this time of the year, that area gets full of water and children love to go and swim there," she said.
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