Pretoria - The families of the two Mamelodi boys who drowned in an unsecured road construction quarry last year have reached and signed a confidential compensation agreement with the Gauteng provincial government.
ActionSA, the first political party to rush to the scene and commit its resources to see the government compensating the grieving families, was at the site on Friday, to celebrate with the parents.
This, after the bodies of Siyabonga Mabila, 7, and Lawrence Tshwenu, 5, were pulled out of the quarry early last year, after the pair went swimming, and drowned.
The Department of Roads and Logistics would appoint an independent legal firm to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the boys, in the area where King Civil Engineering was building a road, while ActionSA instituted legal action against the government.
A report thereof recommended that the families are compensated and all parties involved, including the contractor and subcontractors, ensure that they close or secure all their construction sites, to ensure that incidents of this nature did not repeat themselves.
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba, speaking at the site on Friday about the families’ “first legal victory”, called it a time of justice, closure and closing of a painful chapter that not only hurt the parents but the country as a whole.
Mothers Pretty Mabila and Madeline Moore said they had since moved oved out of the Skierlik informal settlement and have never, before Friday, been that close to the quarry since the deaths of their children.
They said still could not talk about their feelings.
Spokesperson for the families Deon Moore said: "You cannot begin to imagine how hard it was to convince Pretty just to come back here. I started talking to her last week. This has really been hard for them and you can easily see that because they moved out of the informal settlement after that.
“When she felt she was strong enough she fought through all the trauma and decided she would come.
“Other than that, I can say that the families are obviously happy that this matter was settled and an agreement reached. No amount of money could ever bring back the children, but this is justice and it was achieved in 18 months. Some people wait years – and some even decades, to get justice. We are blessed and grateful for ActionSA."
Moore said they were also grateful for former ActionSA member, Abel Tau, who rushed to meet the families and brought the matter to the attention of the party.
Mashaba said while the settlement agreement with the provincial government was welcome it would not bring the two children back, nor would it remove the sense of loss the families experienced.
“No parent in this world should have to find themselves in a position to have to bury their children. This is a landmark legal victory for ActionSA, a party that was launched just over two years ago.
“ActionSA will continue to fight for neglected communities across the country, including the families of the Hammanskraal boys who also drowned under similar circumstances of state negligence.
“The party is committed to social justice and redress, to ensure that the harmful legacy of the past is reversed.”
Pretoria News