A Kraaifontein community is shocked and puzzled after the body of a nine-year-old boy, who went missing on Monday, was found in a dam.
Nathan Andile Ngobeni, 9, a Grade 3 pupil at Enkululekweni Primary School in Wallacedene, went to play after school and never returned.
His mother, Tracy Ngobeni, 32, says he often went to play in Phase 1, but never wandered too far from home.
“Andile is a child that knows everyone and he doesn’t go far from home.
"The only times he walks further than home is for school,” she says.
“On Monday, he came home from school and I helped him with his homework.
"He was a happy child and still called me out to ‘beat him in dancing’.
'DROWNED': Nathan Ngobeni, age 9. Picture supplied
Andile went playing and when he did not come home, she started getting worried.
“Myself and his father, Xolani, went walking the streets asking for him, but no one saw him. I asked his friends and they didn’t know where he was, but they said they think he was in Phase 9.
“My husband went to report him missing at the police station and we were worried sick."
But something about Andile’s friends’ explanation bothered her and she contacted the school principal on Tuesday to try to get information from them.
“They told the principal they last saw him at the local dam in Phase 9. He never walked so far from home,” says Tracy.
MOM: Tracy Ngobeni, 32
“When we got to the dam, I found his clothes in a bundle next to the dam. After two hours, divers arrived and extracted his body from the dam.”
Police spokesperson Mihlali Majikela confirmed the incident. “Circumstances surrounding the drowning of a nine-year-old boy are under investigation.
“An inquest docket has been registered after the deceased’s body was recovered from a dam in the area of Maroela Road, Wallacedene, Kraaifontein."
DEVASTATED: Tracy Ngobeni, Porcia Sibewu in Kraaifontein. Picture: Solly Lottering
A devastated Tracy says she is organising a march.
“On Sunday with parents,
I want to march to the police station and look for the owner of that dam. That dam needs fencing,” she says.
“How many children haven’t drowned there yet? How many more must still drown? My Andile was a lovely child with a beautiful smile. He didn’t deserve to die like this.”