-
A person signals for help under water.
Residents of Moshana village in Zeerust in the North West are disheartened over what they say is a lack of police resources and response time in their area.
This follows the drowning of two girls, aged 15 and 18, while swimming in a dam.
Although residents say they alerted police immediately, their bodies were only recovered the following day.
Residents argue that the matter would been attended to sooner if the police divers and forensic units were available in their local municipality.
Resident Metsiatsile Ditibane says, “We are deeply hurt as residents by what happened, but what hurts us the most is the service delivery in Ramotshere, which is very far behind. The children fell in there yesterday. We called the police and were told that the children could not be taken out because the divers are in Potchefstroom and would only come the next day.”
Police Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Sam Tselanyane says they are worried about the large number of drownings reported in the province.
He says they are currently attending to an average of 14 drownings a month, many of them involving children.
He further explains that it is not possible to have divers in each local municipality and why they could only assist a day later.
“Due to the fact that the incident happened in the evening and was reported to the police during the night, police divers could not dive at the time, and it was already getting dark. The two bodies were retrieved by the SAPS divers on Thursday, the 22nd of January 2026, at about 10:15 in the morning. Investigations into the matter continue,” says Tselanyane.
-Report by Tsholofelo Sekwena
