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This morning, Tuesday 2 March 2021 my team and I visited the site of the tragic drowning of two young boys Siyabonga Mabela aged 7, and Lawrence Tshweu 4 years at an unattended construction site in Mamelodi.

At the time of our visit with the bereaved families at the site of the boys’ drowning, the quarry had still not been fenced. The City of Tshwane’s promises to have the area urgently secured following the tragic deaths of the two boys have still not materialised. 

Members of the bereaved families demand answers as to the City’s broken promises to act against the implicated construction company which should have secured the construction area months ago when the work began, a move that could have spared the boys’ lives.

What is even more worrying is that the preferred funeral undertakers allege that they are being pressured to inflate the cost of their services for the funeral to be paid for by the City. 

To that end, the Tshweu family represented by Mr Deon Moore who is the family’s spokesperson have asked ActionSA to intervene on their behalf. While the Mabela family will inform us of their decision to join the Tshweu family’s legal action soon after the children have been buried. 

We will instruct our Lily Mine legal team to begin the legal process and ensure that those responsible for this tragedy are held to account. 

Last year, a similar tragedy occurred in Hammanskraal where three young boys, Samuel Maphoso, 10, Kutlwano Mkhwanazi, 9, and Tshepo Machete, 10, also drowned in an unattended storm water trench. ActionSA’s legal team will shortly be serving  legal papers against the City of Tshwane on behalf of the Hammanskraal families as well. 

We cannot standby and do nothing while our people continue to be mistreated and our public resources squandered. We will stay close to developments in the case to ensure that no maleficence can take place in this matter. 

Issued by ActionSA