Two families whose ten-year-old sons drowned in an open pit in Cowdray Park last year plan to hold a memorial service in their honour on Thursday with questions still abounding on the circumstances leading to the tragic incident.
On November 10, 2021, Lenon Musariri and Melusi Nyoni drowned in an open pit at a fuel station site where they had gone swimming.
The property is now owned by Trek, but according to reports at the time, it was owned by a high-ranking Zanu PF official.
Chris Musariri, Lenon’s guardian, described the events leading up to his son’s death and their current decision to hold a memorial service at the garage in an interview with CITE.
“I don’t know the specifics of what happened but I understand the boys went swimming there after school. It was an unprotected pit, but it appears children used it for swimming,” he said.
“We heard the boys drowned around 12 noon but were retrieved around 3 pm by a resident known as Mhlanga since police were hesitant to retrieve bodies.”
Musariri stated the family learned of his son’s death around 6 pm while searching for him.
“Because that property is owned by someone and there were tanks there, we hoped the owner would approach us to sympathise,” he explained.
Instead, Musariri claimed that Cowdray Park Councillor, Kidwell Mujuru, attended both funerals on behalf of the property owner to mourn with the families.
“Mujuru left US$300 at our home and $400 for the Nyoni family,” he said.
As time went by, the two families thought the property owner would come to them but nothing happened.
“They just went quiet, including the police because we thought the unprotected pit was a crime scene,” said Musariri.
Months later, the two families found it strange that the owner had continued with the construction of the garage without reaching out to them.
This prompted the families to look into the owner.
“We went to the construction site, and the workers directed us to Trek in the city centre,” Musariri said.
“We approached officials there, who claimed they were unaware and had only taken over after buying the property. We were given the phone number of a person who knew the owner. That contact gave us the owner’s phone number. When we sent a message to the said owner who blocked us.”
The two families approached the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) but were referred back to their ward councillor.
“The councillor brought money but did not tell us where it came from. That seemed fishy to us,” Musariri said, adding that the families were enraged after the councillor posted a message online urging parents to keep an eye on their children as if the boys’ deaths were their fault.
“How do you constantly keep an eye on a child? Children will go and play wherever there is no protection. We heard the site was covered, but materials were stolen, which is not our problem. There should have been a guard on duty 24 hours a day to make sure nothing happened or to find ways to seal it off.”
Human rights lawyers informed the families they could not assist them.
“We are now planning to host a service at the site in memory of our children,” Musariri said.
Contacted for comment, the councillor asked what “form of justice these families desired.”
“They are not working with me, but have gone all over. Council called me to assist them as their councillor, but no one approached me. It appears that I am not properly representing them, because if people avoid you, what should I do?” Mujuru stated.
“I was there at the funeral as councillor and as a community leader I sourced US$700, which I distributed to the two families. However, some people present at the funeral felt the money was too little or that I had misappropriated it.”
Mujuru claimed that some people influenced the families to seek more money.
“I heard they were claiming US$20 000 from garage officials who inquired as to how they quantified a person. There were other people who convinced the families that $700 was a small sum. I became irritated and distanced myself. If they thought the money was insufficient, they were supposed to raise it with me because I was the one who brought it,” said the councillor.
“If they had involved me from that time, we could be talking a different story. I was the one who went to the garage and said an accident had occurred. We must understand that was an accident.”
According to the councillor, the site was barricaded, but some residents stole the cover sheets, causing the pit to fill with water when it rained.
“Unfortunately children died. We can’t entirely put the blame on the owner of the garage,”
Mujuru advised against the families going to that location for a memorial as it was illegal since it was someone else’s property.
“If someone has been struck by a car, do they go to that spot for a service? That is someone else’s property who can have them arrested.”
BCC had not responded to questions sent to them over the matter.
