The drowning of a 4-year-old boy has caused tense tensions between two neighbours after 7-year-old was accused of pushing a minor to a swamp.

THE DROWNING

The incident happened in Chesterville outside Durban in KwaZulu Natal (KZN) where a four-year old boy drowned and died after he had gone to swim in a swamp with other three boys from the neighbour?s houses on Tuesday. The father of a four year old (Leeto Mabizela) who passed away Xolani Mabizela told ZiMoja that it was too difficult for him to forget the scene of seeing his son lying dead in a swamp. "On the day of the incident, Leeto came back from creche around 13:00 like any other ordinary day and I dished up.for.him before he went to play outside. When the neighbour?s kids came back from school Leeto went back to play in the neighbour?s yard. The neighbour?s child and two of his friends decided that they go and swim at swamp nearby our area. The swamp is in the middle of the bushes, and I don?t know did those kids find it because the water there is dirty and greenish in colour. According to the other kids, my neighbour?s older kid is the one who pushed Leeto to the water because he was scared of swimming. When they realized that Leeto could not swim, they ran and left him there to die. Mind you this happened around 15:00 pm. They kept quiet and never said a word to us at home. It was until 19:00 in the evening when I received a call informing me that I must rush back home as I had left to be with my friends," he said. Mabizela said that when he arrived home, he was shocked and distraught to find that Leeto had passed away by drowning.

MOCKERY

"What is more painful is that my nighbours have never came to see us with regards to the incident. All they are doing is that they are mocking us as the bad parents who were negligent to let a four-year-old to go play outside without them monitoring him. All I wanted was for them to come and meet us as neighbours as we are aware that they never sent their child to push my son into a swamp. We call it ubuntu," he said. The neighbour Thobani Ngidi said that he was not aware about the tension between the two families. "We are no longer dating with the mother of my child but I?m making plans to go meet the family. I?m going there as the father of the young man accused of pushing the other child into water. I have a responsibility as a father because even if it happened to me I will never point fingers," he said. KZN Saps spokesperson Colonel Nqobile Gwala (waiting on her comment since 09:00, am)