ANELISA KUBHEKA
THRILL seekers, risk takers and gamblers are just a few words used to describe the Umlazi teenagers who dare to face high voltage cables while train-surfing after school.
The sport, which involves manoeuvres while running or standing on a fast-moving train, is an international phenomenon which is rife in Gauteng. It is dangerous because of the high voltage wires and the need to dodge obstructions.
In KwaZulu-Natal the first deaths, in March and May this year, indicate a growing trend here.
It is a pastime at which Thubelihle Ndelela, 13, made his name among youngsters. But it has also cost him his arm after he hit an overhead power line.
His mother, Nonhlanhla, wants the practice exposed so that parents will know what their children are up to, and can warn their children of the dangers. She was not aware that he had been doing it for three years before he was injured. (Full story and pictures: Page 7.)
The Daily News went to railway stations around Durban and interviewed some of the children.
“When you do it, while running on the platform or right next to the track, girls watch you and they scream, this gives that adrenalin rush,” said a 17-year-old pupil of Enaleni High School in Umlazi.
The pupil did not want to be named because he does not want his parents to know that he has been practising train-surfing since he was eight years old.
“On Fridays we bet on who will get scared first and jump back on to the train. You win if you run the furthest, we call this iGoba and you are not allowed to use your hands when jumping back on to the train.” He said betting started from R20 and they could make up to R300 between them and the person who betted on them.
“This happens from Berea Station where we compete against other boys from KwaMashu until we get into Umlazi,” he said.
He said they also did this on top of the train where they race along the carriages using the metal bulges for balance while ducking to avoid the live cables above their heads.
“When you are on top you can actually see the wires spark and this is dangerous but it’s all about timing when you have to duck.”
He said he had not stopped surfing but was just taking a break from it since the death of his friend who died while surfing.
“I’ve stopped, people have died doing this and I can’t stand to do it anymore. I have to stop before I die,” said another 16-year-old former train surfer from Umlazi and also a pupil at Enaleni.
The pupils still hold high regard for Thubelihle – when his name was mentioned the boys referred to him as a “good train surfer”, injured when he lost his timing.
Both these pupils had been friends of Sihle “Smonyo” Fani who died earlier this month after being electrocuted while train surfing between KwaMnyandu and Lindokuhle train stations in Umlazi.
He said he was too scared to get on top of the train but he would do the iGoba and Amashubha.
“ Amashubha is when you let your feet drag on the outside of the train on the side without a platform and then pull up landing on both feet back on the train making a loud ‘bha’ sound,” he said.
He said he had been with Fani on the day he died and had seen him running along the platform while the train had been moving while holding on to the side.
“When the train got to Zwelethu train station he used the window to climb to the roof of the train to surf, when we got to KwaMnyandu he jumped off,” he said.
He said when the train took off he climbed back on to the top and ran towards the front of the train.
“I think he must have got too close too quickly to the two horn-looking things at the front of the train that move and they touched his chest, the next thing I knew