Durban - The brave Durban schoolboy who saved a woman from a car caught in the floods on the M4 in La Lucia will be honoured at an awards ceremony on Saturday evening.
Lifesaving South Africa’s annual Bravery Awards on Thursday had already completed a list containing the details of 35 who were being recognised for saving lives in various water-related incidents at its awards ceremony, set to take place at Durban North’s Riverside Hotel on Saturday.
But 17-year-old Cameron White, who serves as a member of the Durban Surf Lifesaving Club, pencilled his name in as a late 36th addition with his dramatic rescue.
The Clifton College pupil had been travelling with his father on Monday when they spotted a vehicle floating and rotating in the floodwaters, with its driver still inside.
With floodwater levels rising, father and son risked their lives, swimming through chest-high water to get to Shakila Singh’s vehicle and helped her to safety.
As if this was not praiseworthy enough, Cameron even managed to extract Singh’s belongings from her vehicle.
Subsequently, the vehicle disappeared under the floodwaters.
“It didn’t look as though anyone else was willing to help,” said Cameron.
“There were people on the banks of the road and others in vehicles taking photos of the incident and I just decided to go and help the motorist out of the troubled vehicle.”
The teenager, who has become something of a celebrity among schoolmates, friends and family, said he was pleasantly surprised when he got the call, informing him he would be receiving an award.
He told the Daily News on Saturday that Singh had thanked him “a lot” on social media, and had thanked him in person when the pair met for a radio interview.
“On Monday I went to bed with a smile on my face knowing I had saved someone else’s life,” the teenager said.
Stanford Slabbert, convener of Life Saving South Africa’s bravery awards committee, explained that awards were divided in two categories: bravery and drowning prevention.
Bravery had four levels: letter of appreciation; letter of commendation; certificate of commendation; and the silver medallion - the highest level. White is to receive the letter of appreciation.
The medallion had only been awarded to 16 people since the inception of the awards in 1948.
For saving his younger brother from a shark attack at Buffelsbaai, teenager Alexander Swanepoel becomes the 17th to receive the medal in the close to seven decades of the awards’ existence.
Alexander, 19, had been bodysurfing about 80m from shore with his brothers, Caleb and Joshua, when a shark attacked Caleb.
As Caleb tried to paddle to shore, the shark had bitten him twice, severing his right leg.
Also among those being honoured on Saturday are two Durban North pupils.
Anelly Zulu and Philippa Pavid, of Virginia Preparatory School, will each receive a letter of appreciation for coming to the aid of a 1-year-old toddler who had fallen into a canal at uShaka Marine World’s Lazy River Water Park two years ago. Now both 12, they were 10 at the time of the incident.
Speaking to the Daily News about the rescue, Anelly said: “There is no doubt that it was the right thing to do. My friend, Philippa, and I saw the toddler’s father going around asking if anybody had seen his child and we decided to help search for her.
“We got off our tube ride, searched for the baby and we managed to find her safe and sound,” Anelly said.
Among several other KwaZulu-Natal heroes to be honoured is Andre Botha, 35.
The Daily News reported how the Durban man and two-time professional bodyboarding world champion rescued a surfer hit by a massive wave on the Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii in December last year.
His citation reads: “Botha realised that surfer, Evan Gieselman, was in serious trouble after wiping out on a massive wave. He found Evan and immediately started mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, whilst battling to keep the patient’s head above the water in turbulent conditions.
His efforts were hampered by the massive 12/15 foot waves and powerful rip currents. It was a very dangerous situation and Andre’s quick action saved Evan’s life.”
Also receiving a letter of appreciation award is Meresh Sukdeo an uMhlanga Sands Hotel manager, who successfully performed CPR on a 7-year-old who nearly drowned in the hotel pool in February.
Wedding photographer, Chantelle Botha, 32, who put down her camera at a ceremony to come to the aid of a 5-year-old, will receive a letter of commendation award.
Botha successfully applied CPR to the child, who had been pulled from the surf at Estuary Beach, Port Edward in November.
Posthumous bravery awards go to Phenyo Nkopo, 15, for his heroism at Wydenham Beach, near eMkhomazi, and Siyanda Buthelezi, 15, who died at eMkhomazi.
According to the citation, Phenyo had been enjoying a day at the beach when he saw a young girl caught in a strong rip current.
“Without hesitating, he rushed to assist her and was also swept out to sea. His heroism sadly cost him his life.”
Daily News