A 13-year-old boy has drowned in a pit at Marobjane village in Avon, Senwabarwana in Limpopo.  The pit, which was dug for a road construction project, was left open.

The boy was playing with his friends when the incident occurred. The boy’s mother, Johanna Mmoko believes that had the pit been properly closed, her son, James’, death could have been prevented.

“I received a devastating phone call informing me that my son had drowned in the water. Despite efforts to retrieve him, they were unsuccessful. I was left waiting anxiously from 3 pm to 10 pm for the divers to arrive. I am consumed by unbearable pain and grief, and I fear that I may never heal from this tragedy,” says Mmoko.

The Blouberg Local Municipality says it is sending a team to investigate.

Community leader, Alfa Lebepe says the pit poses a significant danger to the community and livestock.

“It seems like the municipality doesn’t bother or even worry about what’s happening in our community because if you can see the trench is almost eight to 12 meters deep. So, how can you cope with such pits in a community, just less than 500 metres from the village? Because children are playing here and then there’s no security here, they don’t worry about coming to the community and doing the preparations for safety measures here,” says Lebepe.

He says the latest tragedy is not the first fatality to have befalled the community as a result of the pit.

“This is not the first incident to happen. It happened last year, where there was another one who died while being baptized and another one happened a year before last, and ultimately we have five people who died here without any action from the municipality,” he adds.