In a depressing incident which has left Rutendo residents in Redcliff dumbstruck, a Grade 7 pupil died after drowning in a defunct sewer pond while swimming together with other juveniles yesterday evening, Zwnews authoritatively reveals.
This publication has it on good authority that the deceased Denzel Hleki (12) who was in his seventh grade at Rutendo Primary School in Redcliff, Midlands Province, tragically drowned in a proposed USAid sewerage treatment plant.
Although provincial police authorities could not immediately shed light on the incident, the school head Chamunorwa Foroma confirmed the sad development to Zwnews this afternoon.
“This is not only sad- it’s actually bad news for the school and the entire community,” Foroma said.
“We have just communicated with the Ministry (of Primary and Secondary Education in connection with the issue. I am particularly saddened by the fact that I saw the mother of the child when she visited him with food. The grief is inexplicable and I was really touched when we visited the deceased’s residence to pay condolences,” he said.
An eyewitness who spoke to this publication said the deceased boy had initially declined to get into the pool but was persuaded by his peers who were already swimming inside the sewer pond.
“They were swimming mupond. It’s a sewer plant isina kumboshanda so vanhu vanowacha ikoko nekunetsa kuri kuita mvura.Saka vana vaidhidha and iye Denzel hanzi akati hagone ndobva mafriends amusungirira zvigubhu kuti ashambire akabva ajambiramo. Depressingly, zvigubhu zvacho zvakabva zvatsvedza and as fate would have it, the young boy passed on,” said the source.
Editorial: Nyasha Majoni
Zwnews
