WAITING

POLICE dog handler Mathews Phakathi and his dog Leah were part of the search and rescue team looking for Nkanyiso Phewa, 9, who is thought to have drowned on Sunday in the uMlazi river near KwaNdengezi. His parents, Fikile Phewa and Henry Mchunu, were at the riverside waiting for news.

THE community in KwaNdengezi found the body of a 9-year-old boy who drowned in the river on Sunday, several hours after the police Search and Rescue Unit abandoned their search for him.

The body of Nkanyiso Phewa was pulled from the uMlazi River at about 7pm last night.

Nkanyiso and three friends left home on Sunday morning to play a game along the banks and rocky cliffs of the uMlazi River below an area known as Coffee Farm. His aunt, Mpume Mthembu, said they were crossing the river when two of them began experiencing difficulties in the water.

At about 10am yesterday, the police Search and Rescue Unit continued their search for Nkanyiso’s body from where they had left off on Sunday. But after four hours the search was called off.

Mthembu said the community continued to walk further down the river and eventually found his body, late in the evening.

Mthembu said it was the first time they had swum in the river. The boys normally swam in the Cutshwayo stream, closer to their home. Cutshwayo is a tributary of the uMlazi.

“My son Nthando was pulled out while Nkanyiso went under after several attempts by his friends to grab him. He was screaming for them to grab him. When the boys realised he had disappeared, they ran home to inform me,” Mthembu said.

Nkanyiso was in Grade 4 at Nqobane Primary School.

“They are all school friends. They were shocked by what happened,” Mthembu said.

“Nkanyiso was so intelligent. He had brought in excellent first-term test results in his report on Friday.”

Nkanyiso’s mother, Fikile Phewa, said she was exhausted because they had searched the river’s edge since Sunday. His father, Henry Mchunu, would not comment.

“We are struggling to cope with what has happened. He was still young. We expected more from him in life. The family is devastated,” Mthembu said.

Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said KwaNdengezi police had opened an inquest docket.

On the South Coast, a 45-yearold-man drowned in the Umkomaas River on Sunday. Police found his body near the river mouth in four metres of water.

On Saturday afternoon an unidentified man was found by the Search and Rescue team at the Umsimbazi River, near the R102 highway. eManzimtoti police are investigating.