‘Camp of death’
● Enoch Mpianzi’s death has ripped open old wounds for four families whose children also drowned at the Nyati Bush and Riverbreak lodge near Brits.
It has also prompted fresh questions as to why the North West camp has been allowed to continue operating despite five children drowning there.
The deaths have highlighted a glaring lack of safety measures at adventure camps, which are not regulated.
Mellony Sias, 18, drowned when her tube overturned in the Crocodile River in 2010. A facilitator tried to rescue her but could not. Tumi Mokomane, 12, drowned in the camp’s swimming pool in 2009. His body was allegedly recovered more than 12 hours after he was reported missing. Thuso Moalusi, 17, drowned in 2002 while doing an obstacle course in the river after getting caught in deep water. Portia Sowela, 14, drowned in the river during a sports camp in 1999.
Police have confirmed that investigations were done in three of the four previous drownings, and that the camp was found not liable in any of them. But the heartbroken parents of the dead children have been left with many unanswered questions.
Wilhelmina Mokomane broke down in tears this week while recalling the day she received the telephone call to tell her that her son Tumi, a grade 6 pupil at Welgedag Primary School in Springs, was dead.
“He was just 12 years old. How does this happen to a child? We were told our children would be looked after, that it was a good camp,” she said.
“In all these years no-one has come to me to tell me the truth about how my boy died. All I know is that they were at the swimming pool. The activity finished and they went back to camp and to go and eat.
“Tumi apparently forgot his T-shirt in the change-room, which was near the swimming pool, and went back to fetch it. But he never came back. They said he just disappeared.”
Mokomane said she had been told a search was conducted around the camp for Tumi, including at the swimming pool, but no-one saw him.
“The teachers and the camp staff said they looked but they couldn’t find him. All of them, including the teachers, went to have supper that night and then to bed knowing
my son was missing.
“They found him the next day in the pool. How could they not see him in the pool that night? Why did the teachers and camp staff only call the police when they found his body? Why did they never call me that night to say he was missing? Nothing about how my son died makes any sense.”
Mokomane said that all she had from the police was a report which declared her son’s death unnatural. “I have so many questions. Nobody has been able to give me any answers for a long time.”
Thuso Moalusi’s mother, Martha Moalusi, said Enoch Mpianzi’s drowning had unearthed 18 years of heartache. The 17-yearold grade 10 Malvern High School pupil drowned in the lodge’s dam in March 2002.
His mother said that when she visited the lodge after he died, she was told by the manager that it would be closed.
“I thought the lodge was closed until I heard of this [Enoch’s] drowning. I have so many questions. I just want answers.
“When we asked about the circumstances of his death they told us he drowned and they tried to save him but they couldn’t.
“They told us that this is the first incident and they are going to close the lodge.”
Jacob Sias said his daughter Mellony, 18, had dreamt of being a psychologist.
The grade 12 Adamantia High School pupil drowned in the river in April 2010 while on a hockey camp.
“Someone saw Mellony’s hand sticking out of the water [after the tube capsized] and then she was gone,” Sias said.
“She was found 10km down the river.
That was the darkest day of my life.”
He said he had not known the case had been closed until the Sunday Times told him this week after getting confirmation from police. “I want to know what really happened. We deserve answers to help us heal.”
Though Portia Sowela’s mother did not want to speak about her daughter’s death, fellow pupil Lesego Phethela, who was on the camp with Portia, said the river had been terrifying.
“I watched from the bank. My friends were battling, they were falling out the tubes, people were screaming and crying for help.
Some could swim to the bank, but others got stuck. No-one had life jackets on. My friends were trying to save each other.”
She said no-one realised Portia was missing until they got back to the camp. “They found her the next day,” she said.
At a press conference on Friday, Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi questioned why schools kept going to the camp in light of the previous deaths.
“Why is there interest [by] schools [in] this camp … if it’s a death camp? Are there financial benefits?”
Darryl Erasmus, chief quality assurance officer at SA Tourism, confirmed that it does not regulate private entities, but offers a voluntary grading option for quality purposes.
National department of tourism spokesperson Blessing Manale said the department did not regulate business entities operating in the tourism sector.
“These businesses need to comply with a municipality’s bylaws,” he said.
Helen Herbert, Lifesaving SA general manager, said that while some municipalities had bylaws regarding water safety at venues, there was no national water safety policy and no guidelines.
She said that in regard to both Enoch and Keamohetswe Seboko, 13, who drowned in the swimming pool at Laerskool Bekker in Magaliesburg last week, there should have been trained safety officers on duty.
Craig Eksteen, of the African Paddling Association, said life jackets were compulsory for children doing water activities.
“Staff have to be trained lifesavers with first-aid qualifications. A safety briefing has to be conducted along with roll calls before the children enter the water and when they get out. Staff have to be trained in flat and swift water rescue.”
Daniel Eloff, a lawyer for Nyati Bush and Riverbreak lodge owner Anton Knoetze, said there had been 17 “trained facilitators” — mostly students hired on an ad hoc basis to run activities at the camp — working on the day of Enoch’s drowning, with 11 trained as level one medics. “There were, however, two qualified paramedics at the camp,” he said.
“My clients don’t have a position on blame and don’t want to point fingers. They want the investigation to establish exactly what happened,” Eloff said.
He could not say why police were not immediately contacted after Enoch’s disappearance was discovered.
He denied a claim made to the Sunday Times by Enoch’s uncle, Sebastien Kodiemoka, that children had been asked to bring life jackets. Kodiemoka said last week: “A life jacket was required from the parents. We didn’t have money for that. It was for them [school staff and organisers] to decide if he could participate, because it is them who took them to the site.”
Eloff said every child taking part in a water event got a life jacket, with only 12 children allowed into the water at a time.
He said the camp would use the opportunity to improve itself.
“All the incidents involved instances where the deceased ventured outside of camp activities,” he said, adding that the lodge was reviewing its safety precautions.
“None of the facilitators are trained as lifeguards … some are level one first-aiders. We had paramedics who were here, they are part of an external company.
“We have taken a decision to suspend all water-based activities,” Eloff said, “People must know that this [the activity in which Enoch drowned] was not a water activity. The children were not meant to swim, they were meant to be in the shallows. If the camp knew the kids were going to swim they would have given them life jackets.”
Police spokesperson Col Adele Myburgh said that along with the inquest into Enoch's drowning, inquests had been conducted into the drownings of Thuso, Tumi and Mellony, which found no-one was accountable, and all the cases were closed.
Police could not provide details on Portia Sowela’s death.
Nothing about how my son died makes any sense
Wilhelmina Mokomane Mother of drowning victim Tumi Mokomane