It is not the first time this sort of thing happens. For a country with a population our size, we have far too many deaths due to drowning. We cannot even begin to quantify the overwhelming grief that envelopes the families of the deceased.
In the latest incident, the children, though trained to swim, could not get themselves out of the water that filled the construction pit. Who dug that pit? Why was it not appropriately covered such that even children in their curious nature would not be able to climb into it? Why was it full of water? Did not the people who dug it realise that it was in a neighbourhood and that people - not just children - and also animals, were likely to fall into it? Questions. Questions and more questions, but that will not bring back the children. No amount of compensation can ever replace a life. But all this heartache could have been prevented. And someone was negligent and ignored all that safety calls for. In the case of the Mogoditshane children, they drowned in a pit. Many others have drowned in lakes, rainwater drainage trenches, pit latrines, bathtubs, fishponds, stored water in buckets and even mop-water. Yet many others have become disabled after falling into these holes. Are we as a nation doing enough to conscientise ourselves about safety, and safety everywhere - at home, on the road, at the farm or at the workplace? Our orientation to safety should go a long way in helping us to realise when we or someone else is practicing unsafe behaviour. We should know that children are in danger when we see them walking towards a body of water, regardless of the fact that we may not be their parents, we take responsibility and steer them away from danger. We should know that our children are in danger when we fail to cover our swimming pools and fishponds or when we leave water enough for them to drown in, in a bucket or bathtub. As responsible adults, we should know when we see children playing by the roadside or wanting to cross the road that we need to slow down our vehicles or help the children cross. If we are fully-oriented to safety we will know to report dangerous pits and manholes, such as the open ones found in Mogoditshane. If, as a nation, we are oriented to safety we can rest in the knowledge that officers - including police, soldiers and other civil servants - will take responsibility when they see potentially dangerous holes, pits or behaviour. Unfortunately, too few of our people appear to take issues of safety to heart. That is why government still construct pit latrines with huge openings for primary school children. All the way from the planner to the constructor, no one recognises the potential danger to children from the huge toilet openings. Is it because government is yet to have in place legislation that makes it mandatory for people to cover their swimming pools, or any holes that may have been dug for whatever purpose? We can, as a determined safety orientated force, prevent many of these incidents. For example, communities can ensure that unnecessary water holes are covered with soil. They can ensure that they take responsibility for children - even if they are not their own children - and on behalf of their biological parents, steer them from potentially dangerous places such as dams, pools unless the children are under parental supervision. Government should also find ways of helping the nation build safety attitudes. There are a thousand ways of going about it, but one sure way is to catch the children while young at school.
