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HEAVY RAINS CLAIM 3 LIVES

By NOKUPHILA HAJI AND MELISA MSWELI | 2025-01-10

Three people have died following the persistent heavy downpours in the country.
The rains, which have battered most parts of the country, claimed the lives of two children, who died after a donga collapsed, burying them under the soil and a 31- year- old woman who died at the Mtilane River.

The rains have also seen the number of displaced people increase to 313, with damaged houses also increasing to 62, 10 critical infrastructure and two schools adversely affected.

The heavy rainfall not only caused flooding across numerous areas in the country but also affected houses, businesses, roads, schools and other critical infrastructure.

At the time of compiling the report, it was suspected that the woman drowned while trying to cross the river.

The children, Nkosenhle Sibandze (9) and Phinda Nkosi (10) are said to have been herding cattle.
The incident happened at Mbondzela in the Shiselweni region in the early hours of yesterday.

The children, according to their relatives, were in the company of a third child and had been sent to collect livestock from the grazing land to be taken to a dip tank today.

On their way to collect the livestock, the children are said to have took another direction towards where they intended to pick berries.

According to sources, who attended to the scene, they discovered that the heavy rains washed away the soil from under the tree which was precariously positioned at the edge of the donga as it was partially suspended.

“They climbed the tree without realising the danger and the donga collapsed, followed by a heap of soil. One of them landed badly while the other was buried under the soil,” narrated the relative, who further revealed that the third child rushed back to raise an alarm.

Minors
Family and community members reportedly rushed to the scene where they found one of the minors lying helplessly on the ground while frantic attempts were made to dig the other one out.
Police and the National Fire Rescue and Emergency Services (NFRES) also arrived at the scene and assisted in the digging, and the children after being pulled out, were rushed to Mankayane health facility.

Incident
Nkosenhle’s grandfather, Herbert, said they received the sad news from a neighbour after the third minor went to report the incident and then headed to the scene.

He said they later received news from the police that the children were dead.
“We are from a happy season and were happy with him. It is January and we do not have a cent for a funeral.

We are in shock and frustrated as it is,” lamented Herbert.
Phinda’s father said his sister informed him about the sad news and expressed his frustration that he was far away in Pigg’s Peak, where is employed and without money.

NFRES Public Relations Officer Mandla Dlamini confirmed that they attended to the incident involving a nine-year-old and 10-year-old.

Chief Police Information and Communications Officer, Senior Superintendent, Phindile Vilakati, confirmed the death of the two minors who died after a heap of soil collapsed on them.

… She loved bathing in the river - Relative

Relatives of the 31-year old woman said she loved bathing in the river if not listen to birds chirping.

The relative, who preferred to have his identity protected, said the family was used to the woman, identified as a Dlamini, going to the river and did not suspect anything could have happened to her.

The source said she was from a Dlamini homestead at Zombodze, Kwaluseni Inkhundla and they last saw her on Monday where she informed some people that she was going to the river.

According to the source, she walked past people who were weeding fields and informed them that she was going to bath in the river and would come back to join them.

“She did not return, which we did not pay much attention to up until she never returned home and was said to be missing. She was not mentally okay, but she was always able to cross the river on her own on a daily basis because she used to bath there,” he said.

He added that Dlamini might have used the same strategy and route when crossing the river, while this time around the Mtilane River was full following the heavy rains.

He said they suspect that she must have drowned while trying to cross the river.
The Chief Police Information and Communications Officer, Senior Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, confirmed the incident. She said the police retrieved the deceased’s body on Tuesday around 2pm.

Divers rescue man stranded on island

DIVERS became heroes when they rescued a man who was stranded on an island at Khalangilile on Tuesday.

This man was from doing gardening where he also got a chance to harvest some green peppers.
As he was fetching his peppers, rain started pouring, filling the stream that he was supposed to cross when going back home.

The water is said to have spread all over leaving a small portion of land for him to stand on.
“He was rescued around 1745 hours by the police scuba drivers. This was after he called the police and informed them about what had happened to him,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Royal Eswatini Police Service Scuba Drivers Unit Sergeant Bongani Dlamini advised people to keep away from over flowing rivers.

He said what this man did was commendable because had he attempted crossing the river, he might have lost his life.

“People should stay away from rivers and should go back home on time when it is raining.
This is so that we can avoid drowning incidents,” he said.

Dlamini added that the public should also stop fishing in rivers now that they were full. He said it was true that fisherman catch many fishes when rivers are full, but stated that they should not take chances.

“All of the country’s major rivers were already full, which is why we can advise parents to keep watch of their children. Crocodiles are also breeding this season which is another reason why people should stay away from rivers,” he said.

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