The Mpumalanga police have opened an inquest docket after a two-year-old toddler drowned in a stream after following his mother who was on her way to the shops nearby.
According to the grief-stricken mother Thapiseng Mnisi, her son Sibusiso Mnisi was asleep when she decided to walk to the shop by crossing a stream at Msholozi village in Mbombela. Unbeknown to her, Sibusiso had woken up not long after she left the house and seeing her at a distance, decided to follow her.
When she returned she saw people gathered at the stream. She was shocked when she saw the child she had left in the house lying motionless after having been retrieved from the stream.
“I’m very sad, I had left him sleeping thinking that crossing to the other side to buy some stuff for the house would be fine but I didn’t know he saw me and decided to follow me.
“After returning from the shops I saw the community gathered at the stream only to be told my son had drowned. I could not believe it until I saw him” said Mnisi.
The police in Mpumalanga said an inquest docket have been opened and no one has been arrested. Spokesperson Col Jabu Ndubane said allegations were that the boy attempted to cross the stream on his own but was swept away by the strong current and drowned.
“This incident happened at Msholozi village where the child who was believed to be asleep allegedly followed the mother while crossing a stream only to drown. The child died and as the police we have opened an inquest case and no one have been arrested as we speak,” Ndubane said.
The acting provincial commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Maj Gen Zeph Mkhwanazi, has expressed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.
“We are sending our heartfelt condolences to the Mnisi family. In the same vein we urge community members to exercise extreme caution, particularly during the current wet weather conditions, as streams, rivers, and dams are overflowing and dangerous,” he said.
Sowetan
