Shock And Disbelief As Five Children From Same Family Drown
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday January 18, 2022 06:00
Whispers grew loud last week following shocking news that five children from the same household drowned in the river.
Legend in Moshupa is that historically, the place located between the rocks, is popularly known for mysterious things. Some allegations are that some events may result in loss of lives, although years may pass without any tragedies at the spot.
On a trail of the story, The Monitor team did not struggle to locate the Mpedi family at Modimele ward over the weekend. This is the family whose hearts were torn into pieces, after hearing of the untimely death of the five little members of their family. The tragedy is still fresh in minds of villagers.
Every elder that The Monitor team interacted with on Saturday voluntarily shared theories they know of or that they have once heard about the infamous ‘Ko-ga Seriri’.
“Hei bana bale ba arabile pitso, golo hale go na le noga ke yone eba biditseng. Batho bale bantsi ba swetse hale mo dingwageng tse di fitileng. Noga ele e tlodisa dingwaga ha batho ba itebala e bolaya motho gape. E (noga) kgona go iphetola kopi, mogopo, podi, ntsanyana kana monna wa lekgoa,” said an elder whom The Monitor team had stopped to ask for direction to the Ntedi family.
Other villagers said even though they cross near that part to the other side of the village they know that the place can be dangerous, especially from 1300hrs and at 2200hrs. They claimed that at times they can hear a voice of a man talking to them.
A representative of the traumatised Mpedi family, Motsholetsi Batshegi who identified himself as the uncle said what happened has left the whole village reeling in shock. Batshegi said all the five deceased children were their family members, hence they were struggling to cope with what transpired.
“Tragedy has befallen us, we have lost five children,” said the visibly hurt Batshegi. “These children were under the guardian of their grandmother, but left the yard to play around 12 noon, and after a few hours the grandmother got worried and started going around the neighbourhood looking for them to no avail.”
Batshegi said while still on the lookout for the missing children, the old woman was shocked to hear the sad news; that five children drowned near the village’s most feared portion of the river.
“We rushed to the scene and indeed found all of our five missing children had drowned. Four were girls and one was a boy. Two were siblings, while the other three were cousins from different mothers within the Mpedi family,” Batshegi said.
“We believe that they drowned, because they were not experienced in swimming. The eldest was doing Standard 3 whilst the youngest was still at pre-school. We do not know what really transpired, but we suspect that they snuck out for swimming and met their untimely fate.”
The Monitor team went to the river where the children are said to have drowned. At the river, the team met Thona Koloboi (65) whose yard is located a stone’s throw away from the feared ‘Ko-ga seriri’.
The elderly woman conceded and explained that even though she continues to stay near the place, she considers it dangerous. Koloboi said she grew up knowing that there is a big snake that can change into anything and at times strike and kill people.
She said on Thursday in the late afternoon her neighbour saw a group of children swimming next to the most feared place. Koloboi said the neighbour tried to chase them away, but it appeared that they later came back and ended up drowning.
“Yes they drowned, but we suspect that the snake got pissed and ended up killing them, because it is well known in the village that the place has a snake,” she said.
“Sometimes at night when passing next to that place that hardly goes dry you can see a goat or a dog near that place or at times you will see a plate floating in the water. I have heard rumours that when one gets closer to that place those things can change into a white person.”
There is another story doing rounds in the village that recently a security guard also sustained injuries at the very same spot. The security guard later told other villagers that he was attacked by a goat, which he found at the spot.