A frantic search for a three-year-old Limpopo boy ended tragically after his body was retrieved from a pit toilet.
A FRANTIC search for a three-year-old boy ended tragically after his body was retrieved from a pit toilet in Tshino Ndiitwani village in Vhembe District, Limpopo, on Monday.
Limpopo, which has been identified as the province with the lowest access to sanitation services in the country, continues to experience tragic incidents related to inadequate sanitation.
According to reports, the boy was last seen by his uncle on Sunday morning between 7.30am and 8.30am.
The boy’s parents reported his disappearance to the police, who assembled a team to search for him.
Limpopo police spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba confirmed the incident, saying: “The hard-working Search and Rescue unit, joined by the K9 Search and Rescue team, the Provincial Search and Rescue unit, EMS, and the local police, started with a search operation that culminated in this horrific discovery.
“The team conducted a search focusing on the victim’s yard. This was after the canine member reacted in the vicinity of the pit toilet.
“The body was found and handed over to the local police.”
The provincial commissioner of police in Limpopo, Lieutenant-General Thembi Hadebe, has called on parents to be extremely cautious.
“These kinds of incidents can only be avoided if we, as parents, exercise extra caution and care and look after our children at all times,” he said.
Hadebe also praised the local police, EMS, and members of the K9 Search and Rescue unit for their dedication and teamwork.
Last month on World Toilet Day (November 19), Deputy Minister Dikeledi Magadzi, together with the Limpopo MEC for Education, Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya, the executive mayor of Vhembe District Municipality, Dowelani Nenguda, and traditional leader Prof Davhana Nesengeni vowed to revolutionise sanitation for the residents of Vhembe as they handed over two blocks of toilet at Rasivhetshele Primary School in Ha-Mangilasi Village, Vhembe District.
