Drowning of child

Please note that there was an unfortunate event that occurred at Manyane Resort on Sunday, 18 October 2020 at approximately 12h30. A child drowned in the swimming pool in the day visitors area. He was there with his mother and other people for an outing. I was there with my husband and children as well. I saw the child under the water and something prompted me to go an investigate. Upon arrival at the pool his mother and another lady were already in the pool trying to pull him out. I assisted with the recovery and my husband also came. We pulled him out of the water and performed CPR on him. We are not professional medical providers but used our basic knowledge of CPR. My husband took over the resuscitation process and thank to God’s amazing grace he responded. The security guard was requested to call the ambulance. He called on his radio and left it at that. I then, called the emergency care number 112 and was told there are no ambulances available and instead told to transport the child to a nearby hospital. The child was carried to the car by my husband and taken to hospital with his mother and another lady. I stayed at the resort and waited for feedback with the rest of the people.

It disturbed me extremely that no one from the resort cared to follow up on the incident instead business continued as usual. Other arriving guested were let into the resort with no precautions put in place subsequent to the incident. There was no emergency response available on the premises and the staff showed no concern nor care. It is only after I went to pick up my husband from the clinic that we confronted the supervisor and security guard on duty (Alinah Pitse and Petros) and requested to speak to their superiors that there was a reluctant response from the resort GM and Manager (Stephina and Sam). We called them on their cellphones and insisted that they evacuate the resort until stringent safety measures are put in place to guarantee the safety of persons because another child could have drowned during the stay. A safety manager was called to attend to the matter and he listened to our concerns and was able to react accordingly by evacuating persons and informed us that disciplinary measures would be followed.

It is extremely worrying that drowning incidents are taken lightly by the resort and that no response is in place considering that there has been numerus other incidents were children have drowned and died like the case of a school boy from Parktown boys who drowned beginning of the year which made headlines and the resort has closed down. Safety of persons is vital whether there are indemnity boards displaced on the premises or not. The supervisor on duty told us that the indemnity board exonerates them from ensuring that persons are safe. People are allowed to enter the premises with alcohol and are allowed to swim under the influence of alcohol at Manyane Resort but no life guards nor other security personnel are patrolling the area for safety precautions. No one from the resort has cared to contact the family to check up on the wellbeing of the child who almost died on your premises and no form of assistance has been offered in terms of counselling because it was a traumatic experience. Even I am still traumatized. One can only conclude that safety of guests is not a priority at the resort and there is no care nor remorse for persons.

Please advise on what corrective measures have translated subsequent to the incident.