Firstly, let me send my heartfelt condolences to the family of Khomanani Mawa, who fell into a sinkhole in Evaton on Sunday when playing with his friends. I watched and followed the story of the missing six-year-old boy on TV with a broken heart.

I could really share the painful experience the boy’s parents were going through. It is reported the boy played with his friends near the open sewerage sinkhole when he unfortunately fell into it and drowned. I heard the mayor putting the blame on the vandals who stole the lids to sell them in scrapyards.

However, municipalities have to cordon off  open sinkholes as danger zones. Children are naïve in nature and they like experimenting on things like jumping into rivers, lakes, sinkholes and dams, not aware of how dangerous their actions could be.

I would also like to advise parents to keep a watchful eye on their children’s whereabouts as they could end up in dangerous situations. The City of Johannesburg and Emfuleni local municipalities were supposed to learn from their past experiences to prevent future unfortunate incidences like that one.

I would like to applaud the man who donated his excavating machine and the rescue team who retrieved the body of the boy from the sewerage sinkhole. I say bravo to you guys for committing yourselves to lend your excellent service to your communities.

We say children are precious gifts from God, but as parents we wrap these gifts with sheer negligence. No parent would like to see their child drowning in sinkholes or getting kidnapped. This really brings unbearable pain to a concerned parent.

As responsible parents, we ought to make sure our children are always safe at home, playgrounds or schools. Take note that the seeds of evil bloom in the fields of negligence.

Amos Tebeila, Mohlaletse, Limpopo