Distraught family want to know how their missing child drowned

The distraught family of grade 2 Nsimbini Primary School pupil Siqalo Ntlooa, who disappeared after a day out with three friends, are puzzled that the boy, who knew he couldn’t swim, was found drowned. 

Siqalo Phumelela Ntlooa, 7, and his friends left their Mayville informal settlement home on Sunday accompanied by four dogs for a walk to a bushy area near Cato Manor.

His sister Esihle said: “He left early on Sunday but came back about 11am when I was doing the laundry. When I finished washing there was no sight of him. I went to a nearby shop to look for him but no-one knew his whereabouts,” said Ntlooa.

Ntlooa did not worry too much until her parents returned from church and their mother could not shake the feeling her son was not OK.

“It was around 5pm and my mother asked another child from the area about Siqalo but he didn’t know where he was,” she said.

The family then summoned other friends who told them he was last seen at a shop.

The community embarked on a search until midnight on Sunday. Siqalo’s determined parents searched until 3am on Monday.

“We became confused because one of Siqalo’s friends who arrived at our home told us he had gotten into a vehicle,” she said. At the point the family resigned themselves into thinking he had been abducted and someone would contact the family with a ransom demand.

“We even waited for the call while other continued to the search. Photos of Siqalo were printed and circulated in the community” she said. Eventually one family member contacted Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) for help after an exhaustive search failed to locate the child.

Rusa spokesperson Prem Balram said the boy was found about 2pm near a river that runs through Cato Manor on Monday after they started looking for him from 10am.

“One of the friends recalled having left Siqalo at forest opposite Albert Luthuli hospital. The friend told us though they had gone together to the river it was only Siqalo who decided to swim. However, another friend said they all swam together,” said Ntlooa.

“His clothes were identified on a river bank. The pilot and crew searched along the river and identified a plunge pool that could have been where the drowning took place,” said Balram.

The boy’s body was fished out by a community member.

“Maybe it’s an honest mistake or maybe he was pushed? We know very well how Siqalo could not swim,” said Ntlooa.

She said Siqalo was wary of going out after he got in trouble with his father a year ago.

“The distance to go all the way to where Siqalo was found is far for a six year old. He once got a hiding from his father for the same thing,” she said.

It was not the first time the child had gone missing as he once disappeared in the midst of a busy day at the Durban beach.

“The beach was really packed. Siqalo had gotten into a wrong taxi going home. Fortunately, realising the young child was on his own, the driver brought him back to the South Beach station where he was found,” she said.

She said once located Siqalo seemed unfazed at the panic he had caused his family.

“It was like he was at a resort when we found him then. That’s how casual he was,” she said.

This time, however, there was no happy ending.

The family, originally from the Lusikisiki in Eastern Cape, have not finalised plans for Siqalo ‘s funeral.

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