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Sukulwenkosi Dube, Plumtree Correspondent
A NINE-year-old boy from Joshua Mqabuko Village in Figtree drowned in Mananda Dam and his body was found a day later after his friends remained quiet about the incident.

The headman for the area, Gideon Ndebele, said Thabo Mpala, who was a Grade 3 pupil at Peace and Good Hope Primary School, drowned last Monday afternoon while fishing with friends.

He said the body was discovered on Tuesday morning after Thabo’s grandmother noticed his absence.

“The boy and his friends who are younger than him snuck to the dam and started fishing there without anyone’s knowledge. It appears that while they were playing he fell into the water and his peers failed to pull him out.

“Instead of alerting the elders they all remained quiet about the issue and proceeded to their homes and the boy’s grandmother, Betty Mpala, realised in the evening that her grandson was missing,” said headman Ndebele.

He said the old woman asked around and later discovered that her grandson had been seen playing with children from a neighbouring homestead earlier on.

He said that very night after being rounded up and questioned, the children revealed that Thabo had drowned.

Headman Ndebele said at the time the villagers discovered the offence, it was already late and efforts to search for him were fruitless as it was dark.

He said the boy’s body was recovered on Tuesday morning and a police report was made.

“The dam is quite deep although the water levels have now dropped because of the absence or rains but still it poses a threat to small children. It is sad that the dam claimed the life of such a young child,” Headman Ndebele said adding that the boy was buried last Thursday.

Thabo’s grandmother said the incident was a terrible ordeal for her as her grandson had been living under her custody.

Mpala said she got worried when it turned dark and her grandson’s whereabouts were still not known.

“He left to play like any other day but unfortunately this time around he did not come back. I failed to sleep and remained awake the entire night when I had learnt that his lifeless body was lying in the dam. I am really saddened by the death of my grandson,” she said.

Matabeleland South acting provincial police spokesperson Sergeant Thabani Mkhwananzi said he was yet to receive a report on the incident.