Official faces action
Following the latest recovery of a body from the Manie Mulder waterfall on Sunday, Roodepoort ward 83 councillor Florence Roberts has opened a case of culpable homicide against the responsible member of the mayoral committee (MMC).
According to Roberts, 26 drownings have been recorded over the past five years from the waterfall in the centre of Roodekrans – five of those occurring within the past six months.
Roberts has brought this matter before the relevant council members as well as the MMC for community development, Margaret Arnolds, several times, and the lack of intervention has finally reached its peak.
The ward councillor was joined by the member of the provincial legislature for safety, Nico de Jager, at the Roodepoort Police Station on Tuesday to lay a charge of culpable homicide against Arnolds.
“It is the responsibility of the city to take care of its citizens but, clearly, that is not happening,” De Jager stated.
He would take the matter of the drownings to the provincial legislature in its first sitting and provide a members’ statement so that the matter is brought to the attention of provincial environmental officials.
“We know drownings are accidental but the lack of intervention from the department of community development has led us to opening this case,” said De Jager.
Roberts said that there was a need for warning signs at the waterfall, properly equipped park rangers and an education drive on water safety for the religious groups who use the water at the park.
The day before the case was opened, Roberts and De Jager were also at the station to find out the best way forward, with the chair of the Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch (RNW), Andreas Oberlechner, at their side to provide a history of the drownings.
RNW has been involved with not only conserving the park, but also working with conservation groups to hire rangers to patrol the area.
Oberlechner has been on scene at the majority of the body recoveries recently. He wanted to make sure that these pilgrim drownings received attention.
“It is a religious site; the pilgrims are of the belief that the water has sacred value. We respect their religion and we are not here to prevent anyone from practicing their religion,” said De Jager.
He, however, said that the councillors and community cannot have people sneaking into the park in the middle of the night, falling into a dark hole that they can’t get out of and drowning.
Roberts added that their goal was to force the city to fence off the area to protect the community.
Arnolds was contacted for comment following the last drowning and while she has acknowledged receiving the questions, no response has been received. – Caxton News Service