MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Sihle Zikalala has called for communities to be cautious around large bodies of water.
This comes after three people, including two children, drowned in two separate incidents in Nongoma.
Disaster Management teams were called to the Msunduzi River after two children, an eleven-year-old and a twelve-year-old, from Bombolo Primary School drowned while swimming last Tuesday afternoon.
In another drowning incident on the same day, a 21-year-old man died while trying to cross a river in Emona.
The province experienced heavy rains in recent weeks. Zikalala conveyed his condolences to the families of the decease.
The department appealed to teachers and parents to inform children about the dangers of swimming in rivers and other designated areas.
“MEC Zikalala calls upon communities across the province to exercise utmost caution, especially around large bodies of water, and appeals to parents and teachers to ensure that children are informed about the dangers of swimming in rivers and undesignated areas,” said the MEC’s spokesperson Senzelwe Mzila.
Mzila said the province would continue to monitor high risk areas.
“The Provincial Disaster Management team continues to work closely with all teams that are based in various municipalities to ensure that communities are kept aware about the dangers posed by weather-related incidents across the province.”
Meanwhile, in the North West, the body of a man was retrieved from the Crocodile River near Brits on Friday morning.
Colonel Adele Myburgh, the police spokesperson told Komorant that the retrieval of the man’s body followed the retrieval of another body on Wednesday.
“A body was spotted by a drone on Tuesday. It was caught in what we presume is reeds and due to the strong current and crocodiles swarming in the river, police divers were unable to reach it on Tuesday night,” Myburgh explained and said the body was fully recovered on Wednesday.
Source: Krugersdorp News, The Witness, Eyewitness News, The South African, Times Live, image from Twitter: @kzncogta