Cape Town - The mother of 11-year-old Siyamanga Bence is grieving the loss of her son whose body was found in a river in Mfuleni on Saturday after he drowned on Friday.
Nosizwe Bence, 39, said: “When I came home, Siyamanga was not here, so I asked everyone around and they said they last saw him after 12 because they did not go to school. They were scared because the other kids throw them with paint and flour and all kinds of things.
“So because it was hot, he just went to that Mfuleni River. It’s at Hindley Road bridge. So he went there with other kids and they were swimming.
“It was his first time to go there so he couldn’t swim like the others but he went inside the water naked because I found his clothes lying under the tree. But the kids didn’t come and tell their parents there was someone swimming with them. They know my house, they didn’t come to me, they just went home and kept quiet,” she said.
Bence said they were searching on Friday from 6pm until 9pm and she had been asking his peers where he could be, but they kept quiet until she showed up with the police.
Police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi said an inquest was opened.
“Mfuleni police responded to a complaint of a missing person on Friday, November 4. An immediate search with community members and the SAPS was implemented with the assistance of the Provincial Diving Unit.
“On Saturday, November 5, the SAPS Provincial Diving Unit continued their search and the body of the 11-year-old boy was retrieved form the water. The victim was declared dead on the scene by medical personnel.”
Wesbank Neighborhood Watch’s John Strydom said: “The body rose to the surface at about 5pm on Saturday.”
Bence said Siyamanga would have celebrated his birthday on November 25.
“We searched on Friday but it was dark. I couldn’t sleep that night and I told myself that my son is gone and all I wanted was his body ... It was sad when he finally came out but I was happy to find him,” Bence said.
rafieka.williams@inl.co.za