Heartbroken and traumatised after four-year-old Lisakhona Bouwer died in the village playground last weekend, the Riebeeck East community is demanding action. Lisakhona was crushed by playground equipment and died at the scene.
Residents say they have been raising the alarm about broken equipment in Riebeeck East’s playpark for years. They’ve called for Makana Municipality to immediately dismantle and remove broken swings, jungle gyms, slides and roundabouts that they say are a safety hazard to children.
The Bouwer family lives in KwaNonzamo, the township north of the main village. When Grocott’s Mail visited, the family on Monday, Lisakhona’s parents were in Makhanda with his brothers, making arrangements for his funeral which will be this weekend. His grandmothers, Jeanette Mayoba and Ivy Maqoko, were at Mayobo’s house, with Lisakhona’s 14-year-old sister SInyolo.
Through Mayoba’s open kitchen door you look directly across the valley to the playground where Lisakhona died last Saturday afternoon. it’s just under a kilometre’s walk and on the way you pass the Ibhabhathane Pre-School Lisakhona attended.
Maqoko’s house overlooks the little cemetery, just metres away, where Lisakhona will be buried this Saturday morning. It will take less than a minute to walk from Lisakhona’s house to his grave.
Sinyolo and her brother Yamkela (9) attend school in Port Elizabeth, where they stay with a relative. Lisakhona (7) attends the local school. The elder two were back home for the holidays, along with dozens of other Riebeeck East children. Riebeeck East Combined School goes up to Grade 7 and high-school learners must either factor in 90 minutes of travelling to and from Makhanda every day, or stay with relatives out of town.
Crying
Family member Linda Manthla, who also lives in KwaNomzamo, described last weekend’s tragedy.
“I was at home and I heard people shouting,” Manthla said. “When I looked outside, I saw lots of people running towards the playground. People told me something had happened there.”
When she heard people mention Lisakhona’s name, she ran to the playground. There were lots of people and the first thing she heard was agonised weeping.
She made her way through the crowd and found Lisakhona’s father, Jeffrey Bouwer, and Sinyolo lying over Lisakhona’s crushed body. They were crying. It was around 3pm on Saturday afternoon.
The police came, the ambulance came. Neighbours kept Lisakhona’s mother, Khayekazi, at home. “She couldn’t see him like that,” Manthla said. “It was terrible. We decided they must tell her at the hospital.”
When Grocott’s Mail visited the village on Monday, the derelict playground was deserted and circled with yellow police crime-scene tape. Apart from one little boy on an errand for his grandmother, there was no child in sight.
Grocott’s Mail has not yet been able to establish how and when the playground was built, and whose responsibility it is to maintain it; however, residents believe that situated as it is directly behind the municipal clinic (at the time it was built, clinics still fell under local government) and library, it is the responsibility of the local municipality.
“As parents, we’ve said they must take that [broken playground equipment]and throw it away,” Manthla said. “This municipality doesn’t care. It’s been more than three years that we’ve been begging them to come and take these things away.
“This wasn’t the first child and it won’t be the last.”
According to Manthla, two children have been previously injured in the playground, one admitted to hospital.
*Ward 1 councillor Ntombekhaya Pieters referred Grocott’s Mail to the Municipal Manager. Calls to him have so far remained unanswered.
Grocott’s Mail asked Makana Municipality to respond to claims by community members that they have been warning them for three years of the danger of the derelict playground equipment. The enquiry was acknowledged by the Communications department and referred on, but as yet no response from the relevant directorate has been received.
Cary Clark is a PR (proportional representation) councillor who lives in Riebeeck East and says that first as a resident, and subsequently as a councillor, she has pleaded over the years for action to be taken regarding the playground.
The problems there started, Clark said, when contractors were brought in via the District Municipality to build the new library and clinic – “around 2013 or 2014”. The rubble of demolished structures still lies behind the two buildings.
“There was a playground there already and they had to move the equipment to make way for the new buildings,” Clark said. “So they just took the equipment and dumped it. A lot of it got damaged in the process, and it was never properly re-established at the new site.”
When Grocott’s Mail visited the playground on Monday, the jungle gym that crushed Lisakhona was standing on a slope, unanchored.
“I have raised this again and again over the years with [various municipal officials]and have also brought it up in Council,” said Clark. “As far back as 2011 I got quotes for landscaping, planting trees and a turnstile to stop the cows coming in.”
But these, along with requests for the playground to be repaired, were ignored, Clark said.
Like the rest of the community, she’s heartbroken and outraged.
“Everyone here is in tears,” Clark said. “But this was not just an accident. This was negligence. This is incredibly sad, but hopefully it will bring us together as a community.”
Riebeeck East residents are raising funds to help the family with Lisakhona’s funeral this weekend. And they have vowed to do something themselves about the park.
“We have decided we will fundraise to get the park fixed up ourselves, and properly secured. We want to name it after Lisakhona.”
Police have confirmed that Lisakhona’s death is being investigated.
Provincial spokesperson Colonel Sibongile Soci said, “SAPS can confirm that an inquest docket has been opened and is under investigation by Riebeeck East SAPS. “
The official police report reads: “It is alleged that the deceased was playing with some of his friends at the playground when a steel framed jungle gym fell over and landed on the deceased. Incident happened on 2019-12-28 at about 16:30. Deceased sustained injuries on the upper body and was certified dead at the scene.”
