NATIONAL NEWS - Two-year-old Imthande Swartbooi drowned after falling into an uncovered manhole in Greenpoint, Khayelitsha, on Sunday.
He was found at midday by his mother, Busisiwe Swartbooi, after she went searching for him.
Nkosikhona Swartbooi, the child’s uncle, who is an activist in the Social Justice Coalition, an organisation that campaigns for better sanitation, posted on Facebook that Greenpoint residents had repeatedly requested the City of Cape Town to fix broken, blocked and overflowing drains.
He said the drain into which Imthande fell had been left open “for a while now”.
“After hearing of my family’s tragic loss the City immediately sent out its water and sanitation staff to fix the broken drain,” posted Swartbooi.
“How many children must die in this very undignified way in order for the City to realise its constitutional obligation to provide basic services to poor and working class communities?” asked Swartbooi.
Imthande has two brothers, aged five and 17.
