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DA, ANC blame each other after Mozambican drowns in Zithobeni, Gauteng – SA
2:38 CAT | 22 Nov 2016
Pretoria News (Supplied) / Bathisda Manyisa fell into a trench and drowned at an abandoned construction site.
The death of a 23-year-old Mozambican man in Zithobeni who drowned after he slipped into a trench full of water on Sunday has caused much anger and sadness.
Many who spoke to the Pretoria News on Monday pointed fingers at the City of Tshwane for allowing a contractor to abandon the trench. It had been dug to install a stormwater drainage system in the area.
The ANC in the city took a political shot at the ruling DA and accused it of not paying the contractor and thus putting an end to the project, leaving the trench open. The DA hit back, saying the contract ended when the ANC was in power.
According to the residents, the contractor left the job incomplete due to non-payment from the city for services rendered.
The abandonment of the project also left many of them out of work as they had been employed there.
The dead man, Bathisda Manyisa, was from Mozambique. He was walking to his friend’s house when he slipped and fell into into the trench, which was filled with rainwater, and drowned.
The trench is a stone’s throw from his friend’s house in Extension 10.
A woman who lives nearby, who asked not be named, said it was around 5pm when the incident happened.
“I had just arrived from a church service and Bathisda spent some time here playing with my 4-year-old child outside my place. The next thing I heard noises outside of people trying to rescue him out of the water,” she said.
She said residents desperately tried to rescue the Mozambican, but without much luck. “They used ropes and a makeshift ladder to take him out of the water, but that didn’t work either,” she said.
The woman said his father arrived and dived into the water because he could swim. However, his efforts were too late.
“He swam inside the trench and lifted Bathisda’s hand, which by that time no longer showed any sign of life. It dawned on all of us that he had died,” she said.
Another resident who used to work on the project said the work was stopped because the contractor had not been paid in a long time. “This particular trench was dug six months ago for the purpose of installing underground pipes for storm drainage and sewage,” he said.
Manyisa’s sister Aldita Manhica, 28, said she was deeply saddened by the death of her brother. She said he came to stay with her in February.
Her boyfriend Raphael Makule said they were also aggrieved by the fact that an ambulance only arrived an hour after they had called for assistance.
ANC Tshwane caucus spokesman Lesego Makhubela blamed the DA-run municipality for neglecting all projects which were initiated by the now opposition party before it lost power in the city in August.
He said the non-payment by the DA-led administration resulted in one of the contractors not being able to finish the groundwork of the project.
He said the ANC ward councillor and local leadership had attempted in vain to escalate the matter to the relevant authority.
Makhubela said the party would do a follow-up on the reasons that led to the project not being completed. He accused the DA administration of cheap political point-scoring which had subsequently compromised lives.
Tshwane mayoral spokesman Samkelo Mgobozi said the project was stopped six months ago and therefore would have fallen under the tenure of former ANC mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa.
“It is extremely disingenuous for the ANC to blame the new DA administration for the trench,” he said.
Source: Pretoria News
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