Villagers afraid of killer hole
Community calls for councillor to intervene to prevent more deaths
ALITTLE village near Kidds Beach is living in terror of a killer hole. Villages from Good Hope village are pleading with Buffalo City Metro (BCM) to come to their rescue and fill in the 10-metre deep, 13m-wide gash in the earth.
According to the villagers, Nojawu Fuzile, who was in his 60s, died in 2011 from injuries he sustained when he fell in.
In June, Fuzile’s two-year-old grandchild also plunged into the hole, but survived.
Villagers say they have also lost livestock which have tumbled into the hole.
ANC councillor in the area, Batini Booi, told the Daily Dispatch: “The hole existed before my term and from what I have heard the hole was left there by people who were digging sabunga.”
Residents said the hole had been there for over 17 years.
Fuzile’s sister in-law, Nomisile Fuzile, lived in fear of the hole, which was less than a metre from her fence.
Nomisile recalled how on a Sunday evening in May 2011, Fuzile did not come home.
“I got worried and started searching for him, but it was dark and there are no streetlights here.”
Fuzile was discovered the next day at the bottom of the hole, still alive, sitting in a crouched position in a pool of water.
“He was dazed and did not know what was happening when villagers took him out.”
The hole has a near-vertical section and a section that is a steep slope.
Nomisile said: “He spent months in hospital, with his body remaining in that crouched position until he died there seven months later from a broken back,” she said.
In June this year, Nomisile’s twoyear-old grandchild also fell into the hole.
“I just turned my back for a minute when I realised he was gone. I heard his little voice coming from the hole calling for help,” she said.
The villagers say the councillor in the area, Batini Booi, is aware of the problem.
Booi confirmed it, saying the matter was being dealt with.
Booi said there was a plan to close the hole when the roads in the village were upgraded.
BCM spokesman, Keith Ngesi, said the metro would be in contact with Booi to find a solution. —