The search is still on for a father who was swept away while trying to cross a flooded Masende River with his 8-year-old son on Monday in Mandeni in KwaZulu Natal. The boy's lifeless body was recovered by the rescue teams yesterday.

KZN Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Coghta) spokesperson in KZN Nolana Ndlovu said the disaster teams received a late call on Christmas Day to respond to a drowning incident involving two people, a 37-year-old father and his son. "During the search and rescue operation, the young boy's lifeless body was recovered by the rescue teams on Tuesday approximately 1 kilometer downstream from where they were swept away," Ndlovu said. She added that the Tugela River and its tributaries are currently full and fast-flowing which made search efforts difficult. She said the search teams were still searching for the missing father.

MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi has convened an urgent joint operation cluster meeting involving all municipalities as part of our disaster response efforts. The teams will assess affected areas and assist those in need. "As rain continues to fall in various parts of our province, we urge people to exercise caution, especially those travelling on the roads. We strongly advise residents not to attempt to cross rivers where the water level is above the knee. The South African Weather Services has forecast more normal rainfall throughout the summer, this requires us to be disaster-wise and adhere to the disaster alerts to reduce risk," Sithole-Moloi said. We have coordinated with other government departments to assist families in distress. Our teams are on the ground offering relief, counselling will be provided to affected families, and we are actively working on postmortem to assist families," she added.