ONE WEEK after they started working on farms in Kranskop, six of them took water from the Nadi River, Mabovini, Msinga, on Thursday.
This happened after the floods hit the area on Thursday afternoon.
Among those who washed away a van, the bodies of four have been found and among them there was also a woman who had been pregnant for two months.
It is said that they took off with the water when the van they were traveling in tried to cross the short bridge in this river.
According to Mr. Mandlenkosi Malinga, who is the husband of Mrs. Nokwazi MaNdlovu Malinga (26), the van driver told them that there were ten people in the van, who were leaving Kranskop for work, and were heading to their homes in Mabovini.
He said when they approached the bridge, they saw a small car successfully crossing the bridge.
“He said that’s when he made the decision to cross and the river would just take him in when they were in the middle of the bridge. He said the van was washed away by the water, and he looked down,” said Malinga.
He said the man told him that when the van got stuck with a rock, he grabbed the woman he was sitting with in the front, and they got out of the water.
“He said when he looked around the back of the van, he noticed that the canopy was gone and none of the eight people who were sitting in the back were gone,” said Malinga.
He said that the driver finally found out that two of them were able to jump out, they got out when the car started to slide, but when the six failed, they were swept away by the water.
“It is very sad what has happened. As soon as I found out that the damage had happened, I went there at night (Thursday) to search the banks of the river in the hope that I would find my wife. When I saw the cloth, I said I lifted it up, I saw that she was wearing a t-shirt, I cried out loud because then I realized that she had died,” said Malinga, who said that his wife’s body was eventually found by rescue teams between Nkandla and Bomvu.
According to the Department of Governance and Indigenous Affairs, four bodies of the victims have been found and the search for two is still ongoing.
The Minister of the Department, Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi, said that the bodies of the four have been found as the search for the victims continues as part of the disaster response team in the province.
“On Friday, the search teams found two bodies of women. The first one was found in the Nadi River, Msinga and the second one was found in the Thukela River, Nkandla,” said Buthelezi.
He pointed out that one of them was pregnant, he went on to say that the search for the drowned continued on Saturday, leading to the discovery of two more bodies.
“Two bodies were found in the Thukela river. That of a woman was found in an area under Msinga Municipality and that of a man was found in Makhabeleni, under Mvoti Municipality,” he said.
He confirmed that the robbers found have between 25 and 40 weapons.
He then expressed his condolences to the bereaved families, and praised the teams for their excellent work in removing the drowned so that the families could find the bones of their loved ones.
“The two men have not been found and the teams are continuing to do everything possible to search for them. The Department in collaboration with Msinga Municipality, He is in constant contact with the affected families to support them during this difficult time,” he said.