Two boys found in dam Mfuleni

Image via: Adobe Stock

Police divers retrieve bodies of two boys in Mfuleni dam

Two seven-year-old boys who were found lifeless in a Mfuleni dam, were reported missing by their families in Khayelitsha last week.

Two boys found in dam Mfuleni

Image via: Adobe Stock

South African Police Service (SAPS) divers, on Thursday night 22 October 2020, retrieved the bodies of two seven-year-old boys in a dam in Mfuleni, Cape Town. 

Linathi Ntshonga and Miyolo Gwinta, who attended the same school, were reported missing by their families in Khayelitsha last week. 

BODIES OF TWO BOYS RETRIEVED FROM MFULENI DAM

According to South African Police Services (SAPS) Brigadier Novela Potelwa, police divers retrieved the bodies of the two boys from a dam between Old Faure Road and the N2 highway in Mfuleni late on Thursday night after clothing items were seen floating in the water. 

“Mfuleni police were alerted on Thursday evening to clothing items that were seen floating in the water,” said Potelwa. 

“Police divers were called out to the scene and the search commenced resulting in the retrieval of the bodies late in the evening. The two families identified the bodies as those of the two seven-year-old boys who were reported missing in Khayelitsha a week ago,” added Potelwa. 

Police have opened an inquest docket for investigation.

Ntshonga and Gwinta were last seen a few kilometres from the dam. Trauma counselling has been arranged for the two families.

BODY OF 17-YEAR-OLD BOY FOUND IN KZN 

In a separate by equally horrifying incident on 6 June, members of the KZN K9 and search and rescue units proceeded to the southern side riverbank of the Bivane Dam and found the body of a 17-year-old boy.

According to Brigadier Jay Naicker, the body was found approximately 1.5 kilometres from where the boy allegedly drowned. 

“All disciplines were mobilised to attend the crime scene. The body was identified by the family and was taken by members of the forensic department for further investigation,” said Naicker. 

One week earlier on 30 May, police officers were on routine duties when they spotted a group of boys playing soccer on a field in the Bhadeni area near the Bivane dam in KwaZulu-Natal. 

The police officers approached them and arrested eight of them for breaking COVID-19 lockdown regulations. 

“Most of the boys fled in different directions and some even swam across the dam to evade arrest,” said Naicker. 

“Police were informed that one of the boys drowned as he tried to swim across the dam,” he added. 

Divers from the police search and rescue unit combed the Bivane Dam for one week.