By Mkhululi Ncube
A 19-year-old Bulilima District man in Matabeleland South Province drowned in Tshankwa dam while swimming with his friends on Sunday.
Luckson Ngwenya from Tshankwa village drowned while swimming with six other boys at the huge dam which supplies water to a nearby Tshankwa irrigation scheme.
Local councilor, Melusi Nkomo, confirmed the incident which he said was a concern in the area.
“He was removed from the dam by the Sub Aqua Unity from Bulawayo around 2pm on Monday. We urge our communities to be careful when playing around with water sources. The temperatures are going up and the temptation to cool off in the water is huge, but people must be very careful.” said councilor Nkomo
He said this is was the fourth drowning incident this year.
The grandfather of the late Ngwenya, Mr Sikelela Moyo, who is based in South Africa, said the family has been left devastated.
Mr Moyo said it was very sad that his grandson will have to be buried in the absence of his parents who are in South Africa.
“The majority of the family members are in South Africa. We got the message on Sunday that my grandson has drowned. We gather he was swimming with six other boys and during the process, his friends saw him lifting his hands calling for help, but his friends said they were too afraid to swim to where he was.
“We were told that the body has to be buried tomorrow which is more painful as we cannot travel to lay him to rest. We are devastated by this development as we would have loved to come home and bid him farewell. It will be hard for his mother to heal from this experience,” said Mr Moyo.
Efforts to get a comment from Matabeleland South police spokesperson Inspector Mangena were fruitless. The Chronicle
