'I just prayed he wouldn't die'
Pretoria - "It was pitch dark and there was so much water around us. I just prayed the whole time that my child wouldn't die," Chantell Latif, 29, of Pretoria Gardens said on Monday.
She was recounting how she jumped into a manhole after her 18-month old son Francois Oelofse at the weekend after he fell about 5 m down a hole and was swept about 2 km further through the sewerage system.
Mother and child were discharged from Pretoria Academic Hospital on Monday. "We're all right and my little boy is playing happily again. He's a real fighter," said Latif.
Tshwane metro council workers were using cement, spades and bricks on Monday to seal the manhole.
Latif said she'd been picnicking with her son and his father in the park there on Sunday afternoon.
"My child was playing around there and the next moment he fell down the hole. I just heard him screaming and then I went down the hole after him.
"I followed my son's screams and cries. At one stage he fell silent.
Legal steps against council
"There were four different tunnels running in four directions. I called out to him and then he began screaming and crying again. It was so dark. Luckily I picked the right tunnel. When I reached him, I held him tight and kept on screaming for help. I think if I hadn't gone after my child, he might have died."
They were taken out of a manhole by a policeman and a Netcare 911 paramedic about 2 km further in a piece of open veld in Japie Peens Street.
They were treated for respiratory problems in hospital after breathing in some of the toxic gases in the tunnels.
Latif said no one from the metro council had tried to contact them yet.
"They were negligent and they don't care. I'm going to see an attorney and I'm considering legal steps against the council."
Mayoral committee member Shadrack Dlamini, who is responsible for water and sanitation, said the cement block covering the manhole had shifted and that was how the hole in the ground originated.
He said it wasn't clear how the block had shifted.
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