Pretoria - The Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport and the City of Tshwane murdered the children who drowned at their construction sites, said former mayor of Johannesburg and leader of Action SA Herman Mashaba.
Mashaba yesterday announced that he will take MEC for Public Transport and Roads Infrastructure Jacob Mamabolo and Tshwane Executive Mayor Randall Williams to court to account personally for two boys who drowned in Mamelodi on Saturday and four in Hammanskraal in November.
Mashaba came offering legal aid for the families to launch civil and criminal lawsuits against the government and was welcomed with warm hands as he visited the two grieving families who lost Tony Lawrence Moore, 4, and Siyabonga Mabila, 7, who died trying to swim in a construction quarry in Skierlik Mountain View informal settlement.
The Moore family and the Mabila family said they knew and respected Mashaba for his work as mayor of Johannesburg who called a spade a spade and can be trusted to get something done and see some form of accountability.
The Moore family spokesperson Deon Moore said they are giving Mashaba the go-ahead to bring lawyers to help them launch a lawsuit but spokesperson for the Mabila family, Frans Baloyi, said the family will need to think things through before rushing to take legal action.
Tony's grieving mother, sitting on a mattress, told Mashaba and his colleague and former MMC in Tshwane Abel Tau that for now the priority for her family was to lay the boy to rest on Saturday but they could leave their contacts details.
Mashaba said Siyabonga and Tony died while his organisation's lawyers were ready to serve The City of Tshwane papers to have it and its contractors ordered by a high court to pay for the loss of life of Kutlwano Mkhwanazi, 9, Tshepo Machete, 10, Samuel Maphoso, 10, and Tsheamo Hleza who died last year in two incidents, two days apart.
The Hammanskraal site was under the City of Tshwane and the Mamelodi site falls under the provincial Department of Roads and Public Transport , explaining why Mashaba wants both Williams and Mamabolo to be held accountable for the shortcomings of their government.
Mashaba said he wanted the politicians to be ordered to pay for damages from their own pockets so they could feel the pinch and in future institute and maintain strict measures for their contractors to ensure they do not dig quarries and dams in residential arrears, leave them without fences and come say they are sorry when children die.
"This murder happened on Saturday, the community was promised that the site will be fenced, it is Tuesday right now and not even a service provider is there. That is why I call it murder or culpable homicide. An accident is something that happens by accident but obviously if you operate in that manner you are bound to have cases like these, he added.
The City of Tshwane and the provincial Department of Roads and Transport visited the families and have been assisting the families with funeral arrangements and arranging counselling.
Mamabolo said he launched an independent investigation led by a senior council to explain the circumstances surrounding the incident and a report will point out if there was some wrongdoing from the side of the contractor and sub-contractors who were working on the land.
Pretoria News