A Limpopo boy has drowned in a stream while trying to catch fish to support his family.

The nine-year-old boy died on Tuesday afternoon after he fell into a stream between Blood River village and Seshego outside Polokwane.

The young boy was reportedly trying to catch fish to feed his family.

His poor family had reportedly been relying on him to feed them.

Ngwako Moetji, the last born in a family of four children, used to live in a shack at the Freedom Park informal settlement near Seshego, with his mother and siblings.

The boy's mother, Betty Moetji, 35, said her son used to frequent the stream with his friends to play.

It came as a shock to her that her son drowned in that same stream.

"I know he used to go to the stream with his friends but at no stage had I thought he could die there," said the grieving mother.

She said she was unemployed and struggling to put bread on the table for her children.

Ngwako was a Grade 2 pupil at the Boiketlo Primary School in Seshego.

His mother said he had left home in the company of four friends to swim.

"While there Ngwako is said to have seen a fish in the water and tried to catch it.

"Unfortunately he tripped and fell into the water and drowned," said a paramedic, who was among those at the scene.

He said the other boys who were in the company of the deceased boy told him that their friend had wanted to catch the fish so that he could eat it with porridge back home.

He will be buried on Sunday at the Seshego Cemetery.

Inspector Mothemane Malefo of the Seshego police confirmed that police divers arrived on the scene at about 7.20pm only to find the boy's lifeless body in the water.

He said they had opened an inquest docket.