Pretoria - Tshwane cannot afford to have a history of children drowning in trenches and quarries left open by contractors.
This was the warning by ActionSA regional chairperson Oupa Mathibela yesterday, while visiting Mamelodi East where two trenches pose a threat to the lives of children.
He was accompanied by party member and Tshwane MMC for human settlements, Abel Tau.
Mathibela said the City of Tshwane did not learn nor implement strict measures to ensure its contractors were doing their best to prevent the deaths of children at construction sites.
He remembered the tragedy of a year ago when Tony Lawrence Tshwenu, 5, and Siyabonga Mabila, 7, drowned in a quarry at Skierlik Mountain View informal settlement.
Community member Given Selaelo said of the two trenches: “It has been about four weeks now since these trenches have been here.
“Some residents are concerned for the safety of their children because they are next to the road. Mahlasedi Masana Primary School is just around the corner from here. You can imagine pupils could come here and play by jumping inside this trench,” he said.
“Children do not see danger coming like us adults. By the time they see it, it is too late for them.”
Mathibela said some years ago four children died in Hammanskraal after drowning in two different trenches a few days apart, but still the City of Tshwane had not learnt the crucial lesson.
ActionSA said it reported the imminent danger, but the contractor only rushed to the site after the party announced its site visit was due yesterday.
“I asked our MMC to come and see because there was also a possibility that this is work from his department.
“We are sending him to his colleagues to make sure that this thing is addressed and the trenches are covered up.
“We do not want to be a political party of reactionaries who put on their shiny shoes and come to offer condolences on things that could have been prevented,” Mathibela said.
Tau said the City had learnt nothing from the deaths of Tony and Siyabonga, because contractors were still digging holes and leaving them unfenced.
He said he was outraged because it could not be right that after children died, the City paid a fine in the form of compensation, and nothing much changed after that.
Tau said that as a member of the Tshwane executive he would speak to his counterparts about the matter to ensure such incidents were addressed and prevented.
Pretoria News