Toddler drowns: parents bereft
A TODDLER’S cry to play outside with friends turned to pain for his parents, after his body was found in the Klipriver Valley in Soweto, 11 days later.
On August 3, Athini Bokveld was playing with three other young children in the rubble at an informal settlement in Kliptown, when he slipped and fell into the river.
On Tuesday, the body of the 18-month old was found by the City of Joburg’s emergency management services (EMS) and SAPS’s water wing rescue team.
The toddler’s father Zinikele walked through the area where his son was last seen and told The Star he was devastated to find out that it took over 11 days to find the body.
“It bothered me a lot. I collapsed when I heard about the accident. It’s even worse for his mother, who is devastated,” he said.
According to Zinikele, Athini was known to always be on his mother, Luleka’s back but on that day he was crying to play with other children and so she left him with a neighbour who was looking after them.
Zinikele, 49, said he last saw his son two days before he disappeared, when Athini and his mom visited him in Mpumalanga.
The Bokveld family has been living in the Kliptown informal settlement since 1997.
Athini was the last born of seven children.
“It’s painful to lose a child, but it’s better to know that our prayers were answered and that we got to find his body. At least now we can bury him and find closure,” he said.
He was found under a mattress of an old discarded bed in the stream. The mattress was lying in 1m-deep water. Police closed off the water flow under the bridge, where they found the body.
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