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Tuesday 22 February 2011
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‘I did everything to protect them’ Brothers die while playing on train tracks TAMMY PETERSEN
S
HE did the best she could to provide for her two toddlers, always keeping an eye on the bundles of energy who regularly made a racket outside the front door of their modest Manenberg home. But on Thursday, the laughter died at 35 Yusuf Dadoo Street. Faieka Smith says she is aware that locals are questioning the type of mother she was, blaming her for being negligent by allowing her children to wander off on their own and play on the nearby train tracks that their young bodies were found at on Thursday afternoon. “People are throwing stones at me with the words they are whispering, but I would have died for my children. I loved them and I did everything I could to protect them,” the 21-year-old mother says. She had been preparing supper and listening to her boys laugh as they chased each other in the front yard of the house that day. “They loved playing with each other and rarely spent time with the
neighbourhood children,” the unemployed woman says. “I would step through the front door and check on them every couple of minutes to make sure they were okay because whenever they were quiet, they were up to no good.” She smiles sadly. “My friend was visiting and told Faiek (3) to close the front gate. I continued with the food while they played outside.” About 15 minutes later, she no longer heard two-year-old Salie’s broken sentences or Faiek teasing his brother. “I went outside and realised that they were gone and the gate was open. I ran into the street but couldn’t find them. I walked down every street calling their names and asking people if they had seen my boys but nobody had. I went home and looked in the cupboards, because they liked playing hide and seek with me. But they were gone.” She returned to walking the streets, looking in every yard for her playful boys. “While I was walking, a boy ran up to me and said they were laying on the train tracks. I went cold. They would never play there. I told
TRAGEDY: Metrorail workers and Manenberg residents gathered at the scene on Thursday after two young boys died while playing on the tracks between Heideveld and Nyanga stations. Photo: Supplied
THOROUGH: Lansdowne police and two police dogs walked through classrooms at Groenvlei High on Wednes day in search of illegal substances and weapons. Scholars’ bags and pockets were searched and only a cellphone, containing pornographic material, was seized and handed over to the school’s governing body for disciplinary measures. Here an officer searches Aseko Kashe’s bag, where nothing illegal was found. Photo: Lulama Zenzile
them it was dangerous,” Faieka says as she chokes up. She arrived at the tracks between Nyanga and Heideveld stations and saw the two tiny bodies laying there. She recognised them by the clothes they were wearing. “They were so young. They were my everything. I changed my life for them and now they are dead. My heart is bleeding for them.” Warrant Officer Llewellyn Lakay, spokesperson for Manenberg police, confirms that the two were dead at the scene. “Their little bodies didn’t stand a chance,” he says. In accordance with Muslim tradition, the toddlers were buried last Friday. Riana Scott, spokesperson for Metrorail, says the line, like many others in the province, is flanked by informal settlements, leading to fencing being vandalised for easy access. “The area where the incident happened is flanked by walls and
fencing. Holes in the barbed wire fence continue to be made to cross the tracks,” she explains. “The provision of street-to-street access, through a bridge or a suitable crossing, will also be raised with local authorities as Metrorail has been working with the city over the past year to replace fencing in critical areas.” But Hanief Loonat, Nyanga Cluster’s Community Police Forum chairperson, says the “community and Transnet should equally shoulder the responsibility” for the children’s death. “The fencing has been removed by vagrants and unscrupulous metal-selling members of our civil society. The community has not proactively done anything about this nor has the authority repaired or maintained these fencing over a number of years. The parents or guardians should be held equally accountable for the senseless loss of innocent lives. Why were these toddlers not super-
vised or cared for at that time of the evening?” he asks. Faieka’s aunt, Rowena Jacobs, says she is incensed that people would blame her niece for what happened. “She watched those children like a hawk. There was no negligence involved – she was preparing supper for her family and the boys were supposed to stay near the front door like they always do. “She loved her children and she would do anything to keep them safe. It’s despicable that anyone could judge her for what happened. If it’s God’s will, who are we to question it?” When asked how she feels four days after she lost her children, she simply replies that she’s “heartbroken”. At least they are together, she adds – even in death.