Keetmanshoop mayor Emrico Blaauw says the municipality is cooperating with law enforcement in investigating the death of a boy at the town on Sunday.
Mohammed Austin (10) was run over by a municipal water truck at Paradise informal settlement.
He was a Grade 3 pupil at Don Bosco Primary School.
Blaauw says the council is deeply saddened by the boy’s death and the circumstances surrounding the incident.
“It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that I extend our condolences to the family of the child who tragically lost his life in an incident involving a municipal water truck that was delivering water to the community.
“The circumstances surrounding the incident need to be established through an appropriate investigation and we assure you the council is treating the matter with the utmost seriousness and is cooperating fully with the relevant authorities and law enforcement,” he says.
Blaauw says the council is discussing the appropriate support to be extended to the family.
The mayor appealed to parents and guardians to caution children against approaching, climbing onto, or playing around water trucks and other moving or stationary heavy vehicles.
“I also call on all drivers and operators of such vehicles to exercise the highest level of care and vigilance, especially when operating in residential areas where children may be present,” the mayor says.
Acting regional commander deputy commissioner Getruida !Kharuxas says preliminary findings indicate the boy was reportedly playing with other children when they challenged each other to jump onto the moving truck.
She says the boy allegedly jumped onto the truck but fell between the vehicle and its water tank, where he was run over.
“Paramedics declared him dead at the scene, and his body was transported to the mortuary at Keetmanshoop State Hospital,” says !Kharuxas.
Community members have expressed outrage as no arrest has been made since the incident.
Community member Julien Dreyer has questioned how a person can lose their life and no one is being held accountable.
Dreyer says the driver had the responsibility to look around him as they are aware that children like to play in the streets.
“The police are not arresting the driver. Why is he going scott-free? A child has died,” he asks.
||Kharas crime investigation coordinator Nicodemus Mbango confirms that the driver has not been arrested.
He says the circumstances surrounding the incident indicate that children were chasing the truck and jumped onto it, which would make holding the driver accountable unfair.
“No arrests will be affected until the investigation is completed. But this is a culpable homicide case, which we will send to the prosecutor general’s office for a decision as we have not yet found any negligence related to the driver,” Mbango says.
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