Deadly wall collapse: ‘She was crying out softly for her mother’

10 April 2018 - 06:14
By Naledi Shange
Relatives mourn the loss of young children, after a wall collapsed onto them while they were playing, in Doornfontein, Johannesburg.
Image: ALON SKUY Relatives mourn the loss of young children, after a wall collapsed onto them while they were playing, in Doornfontein, Johannesburg.

Little Asiphelele Buthelezi took her last breath as she rested her head on George Mtsweni’s sneaker‚ softly crying: “Mama‚ Mama.”

“I had pulled her and another child from under the bricks. Her head was badly injured. She was crying out softly for her mother‚” Mtsweni told Times Select‚ just metres from where the body of the three-year-old lay‚ covered in silver foil.

She was one of three children who died on Monday when the wall of her home‚ a dilapidated building in Doornfontein‚ collapsed onto Davis Street‚ crushing her and two others while they were playing.

“She kept on saying ‘Mama‚ Mama’‚ but yes‚ she is gone‚” said Mtsweni‚ looking at his white sneaker which had spots of blood from the now deceased toddler.