TeeN DroWNS IN ABANDoNeD PUMULA PooL

THE last time Fisani Nkomo from Bulawayo’s Pumula East suburb saw her son was on Tuesday this week when she sent him to give a cellphone to a neighbour for a call.

Nkomo expected her beloved son Thapelo Abel Dube (13) to return home quickly but minutes and hours ticked away with no sign of him.

Being troubled by that, she looked for him at the neighbour’s home but she could not find him.

On the following day, she informed neighbours and police about the shock disappearance of her son.

A manhunt was launched. “They looked for him everywhere and while they were searching for him they met one of his friends who told them that Thapelo went swimming at Emagodini pool in Pumula North suburb and they swiftly headed to the pool.

“They looked around and one of the search party team members saw khaki shorts and a white sweater floating on the water at the other end,” said a resident who preferred not to be named.

The floating clothes gave them a ray of hope and they thoroughly searched for him but they could not find him, prompting them to report the incident to the police.

“Police from the sub-aqua section went and retrieved his body underneath the water,” said the resident.

Bulawayo acting Police

Spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele confirmed the incident.

“I would like to discourage teenagers and even adults from swimming at undesignated places because they would be dicing with death.

When a child is missing the matter should be reported to the police urgently,” she said.

Nkomo said:

“Someone called on my phone at around

1130 am on Tuesday this week and requested to talk to my neighbour, I then handed the phone to Thapelo to deliver it to a neighbour and that was the last time I saw him.”

She added: “After an hour I looked for him next door but I could not find him. On the following day, I informed my neighbours and we conducted a search and found his clothes floating in the pool and reported the incident to the police.

Thereafter police went and retrieved his body.”

Thapelo was the last born in a family of five children and was supposed to start Form One this year.