The mother of an Mdantsane boy who drowned on Wednesday afternoon while swimming unsupervised is a convicted drug mule living in Brazil.
Yolisa Mamayo of NU15 spent more than a year in a Brazilian jail after she was found with cocaine worth R3.7-million at the Rio de Janeiro International Airport in April 2011.
She was about to fly to Luanda, the capital of Angola, to catch a connecting flight to Maputo, Mozambique. But Rio de Janeiro security, alerted to a “nervous passenger”, found the drugs under her clothes.
This was revealed when East London police released the identity of Eastern Beach drowning victim Simamkele Mamayo, 12, a Grade 5 pupil from East London.
Mamayo posted a message on Facebook yesterday saying she would “always love him”.
Mamayo’s cousin Noluthando Matsholo said: “We are communicating with her via Facebook from Brazil,” Matsholo said.
She said Simamkele had been in the care of his grandmother Nomalizo Matsholo at the time of his death.
Eyewitnesses at the scene of the drowning said Simamkele was swept out to sea by a strong current sometime after 5pm. There were no lifeguards as they knocked off at 5pm.
However, Buffalo City Metro spokesman Thandy Matebese said the metro’s 56 lifeguards worked from 7am to 6pm. They are spread across metro’s beaches and Orient swimming pools, Matebese said.
East London police spokesman Captain Stephen Marais said officers in a patrolling police vehicle had been alerted to the incident before 6pm.
Beach photographer Odwa Mngeni said the boy had drowned shortly after 5pm. “The lifeguards leave at 5pm, at a time when more and more people are coming to the beach because it is still sunny during that time,” he said.
On Tuesday afternoon another photographer – Nkosibongile Nkolo – saved two young boys from drowning, he said, adding there had been no lifeguards then either.
The Dispatch reported yesterday on Simamkele’s drowning.
Drowned boy identified
Yolisa Mamayo of NU15 spent more than a year in a Brazilian jail after she was found with cocaine worth R3.7-million at the Rio de Janeiro International Airport in April 2011.
She was about to fly to Luanda, the capital of Angola, to catch a connecting flight to Maputo, Mozambique. But Rio de Janeiro security, alerted to a “nervous passenger”, found the drugs under her clothes.
This was revealed when East London police released the identity of Eastern Beach drowning victim Simamkele Mamayo, 12, a Grade 5 pupil from East London.
Mamayo posted a message on Facebook yesterday saying she would “always love him”.
Mamayo’s cousin Noluthando Matsholo said: “We are communicating with her via Facebook from Brazil,” Matsholo said.
She said Simamkele had been in the care of his grandmother Nomalizo Matsholo at the time of his death.
Eyewitnesses at the scene of the drowning said Simamkele was swept out to sea by a strong current sometime after 5pm. There were no lifeguards as they knocked off at 5pm.
However, Buffalo City Metro spokesman Thandy Matebese said the metro’s 56 lifeguards worked from 7am to 6pm. They are spread across metro’s beaches and Orient swimming pools, Matebese said.
East London police spokesman Captain Stephen Marais said officers in a patrolling police vehicle had been alerted to the incident before 6pm.
Beach photographer Odwa Mngeni said the boy had drowned shortly after 5pm. “The lifeguards leave at 5pm, at a time when more and more people are coming to the beach because it is still sunny during that time,” he said.
On Tuesday afternoon another photographer – Nkosibongile Nkolo – saved two young boys from drowning, he said, adding there had been no lifeguards then either.
The Dispatch reported yesterday on Simamkele’s drowning.
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