MASERU — A six-year-old girl died after she fell in a pond in Borokhoaneng in Maseru on Saturday.
Matšeliso Lisene and her playmates had gone to play at a dumpsite when she slipped and fell into a pond.
‘Mathabo, her mother, told the Lesotho Times this week that she was shocked when she came back home from work late in the afternoon on Saturday only to find that her daughter was not at home.
She said she immediately left her home to search for her.
The search proved fruitless.
Word was immediately sent to neighbours and the police to help search for her.
But by midnight on Saturday, the girl had still not been found.
‘Mathabo said she then suspected that something terrible had happened to her daughter.
“I could not sleep that night. I spent the whole night on my feet. I kept on peering through the window hoping she would come home.
“I waited patiently for daybreak so that I could start looking for her,” ‘Mathabo said.
It was only on Sunday that Matšeliso’s playmates confessed to some elders that she slipped and fell into a sewer at Borokhoaneng.
The search team comprising the police and some villagers then proceeded to the pond.
“It was not easy to search there. The pond was muddy and filthy. Bulldozers had to be called to take the mud out first,” ‘Mathabo said.
“It felt like it was going on forever before they could take her out. When she was finally out I identified her. It is hurting that she has died.”
Lintle Moerane, the Maseru City Council (MCC) information officer however rejected charges that the council was to blame for the girl’s death.
“The MCC is not to blame for the death of that child in Borokhoaneng. It is true that the MCC has to ensure safety of the environment but that also involves even the communities,” Moerane said.
“The pond could have been formed by storm waters. It could also have been caused by people disposing sewage anywhere they like,” Moerane said.
“Water supply has been cut for the families that ditch their sewage in the stream. The MCC will in the meantime drain the pond and renew the drainage process to ensure a smooth flow of water,” Moerane said.
