Brave bid to save tot fails

A traumatised mother whose four-year-old son was washed off  her back while she tried to cross a flooding stream at the weekend yesterday spoke of her anguish.

Sindile Mayeye was on his mother Nonzame Mayeye’s back while she was trying to cross a low-level bridge in a village near Tsholomqa on Saturday evening when he was swept away.

Nonzame herself was bravely rescued by a teenager, but tragically her toddler could not be saved.

Police search and rescue teams only recovered Sindile’s body on Sunday, 300m from the bridge in Zikhova village.

The village is 10km from the R72 to the  west of East London.

Mayeye, from Braelyn in East London, had been on her way to attend a family prayer ceremony in the village – ironically in an effort to rid the family of bad luck.

She told yesterday of how they had taken a taxi from home to the village when they came across the swollen stream after heavy rains.

“When we came across the flooded bridge the taxi driver told us he could not pass and that we should all jump off and cross the bridge on foot,” Mayeye said.

It was just after 5pm and a group of young men from the village were waiting on the other side, assisting people to get across.

The 43-year-old mother said four others had crossed safely before her.

“I then picked up my son and placed him on my back and tried to cross the bridge,” she said.

She could feel Sandile’s grip tightening with each step she took.

“The water was strong and when I fell in my baby slipped from my back.

“I heard him crying and could hear him crying until I could not hear him anymore,” she said.

“People surrounding us were also shouting.

“I tried to gain control but I fell again and hurt my knees, arms and head.

“I did not see my baby again.”

She was pulled from the water by Aviwe Tembani, 18, who then dived back into the water to try and save Sindile.

Tembani’s cousin, Yonela Mpindweni said Tembani got into trouble when he became tired and nearly drowned.

“He was saved by tree branches and was drowning when I pulled him out 500 metres from the bridge,” Mpindweni said.

Mayeye was waiting desperately at the side of the road but her hopes were dashed when Tembani and Mpindweni returned empty-handed.

East London police spokeswoman Warrant Officer Hazel Mqala said search and rescue teams arrived shortly before 6pm, by which time it was already dark.

“The K9 units searched the river banks but eventually called off the search due to adverse weather, darkness and treacherous water conditions,” Mqala said.

They returned the next day and spent three more hours looking for the boy’s body before it was found.

“They eventually recovered his body under an embankment 300m   from where he was swept .

“An inquest docket has been opened,” said Mqala.

Mayeye, who is unemployed, is supposed to have visited the Woodbrook mortuary where her son’s body is being kept to fill in the necessary paperwork, but she is too traumatised.

“I am scared of that bridge.

“I don’t want to ever see it again,” she said.

Zikhova village residents said young Sindile was the second person to have died trying to cross the flooded bridge.

An elderly man died under similar circumstances over the Easter weekend, when there was also torrential rain.

Zikhova Primary School principal Samuel Spelt said pupils and teachers faced great difficulty crossing the bridge every time it flooded.