By: Natasha Archary
Two weeks after he allegedly fell into an open manhole in Dlamini, Soweto, the search for Khayalethu Magadla has been called off.
Kholekile Magadla, the father of the 6-year old boy, says he’s disappointed that the Mayor’s promise that they will not stop until he’s found was not followed through.
Speaking to eNCA on Sunday, 26 June, the boy’s father said if his body was not found, then some item of clothing of his, a shoe or a jacket would have given them closure.
“I’m disappointed because the search was supposed to give us answers, but now its been called off. We have nothing and I don’t feel enough was done to find my son.”
Despite a full 2-weeks of continuous searching for the boy, Khaya’s father feels that emergency services personnel should have turned off the water when they found out he had fallen in.
Instead, the water supply was only switched off on Friday to allow search and rescue teams to navigate the high pressure tunnels.
“Why only now they switch off the water, why didn’t they switch off the water on the Monday when we knew he fell in?”
He says the water pressure on the Siunday that Khayalethu fell into the manhole was too high, everyone who searched for the boy on Monday, 13 June said so.
The family only found out what had allegedly happened to Khaya the next day, after his cousin told a teacher that the boy fell whilst playing.
Meanwhile, poor infrastructure and maintenance is being blamed and there are calls for the city to do better to prevent such tragedies from happening.
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