'I Need To See My Baby'

The mother of a toddler swept away in the Durban floodwaters says she can’t bear the thought of her child’s body not being found

- Qhama Dayile

IT’S been several days since the storm hit, unleashing rain that turned highways into rivers and wild winds that tossed giant ships across the harbour like toys.

By the time the fury had finally abated at least nine people would have lost their lives and five more would be missing. Parts of Durban lay under water and mud, and residents are picking up the pieces of their lives. But for one woman life will never be the same again.

Lindokuhle Kweyama’s little girl, Okuhle, was swept away by the frothing brown water before anybody could do anything. And for the 27-year-old mom, the agony of not knowing where her child is is unbearable.

DRUM finds Lindokuhle pacing outside a pink four-room house on a hill in Umlazi. She and her 22-month-old daughter lived in a shack in the backyard and the morning of 10 October started like any other.

Lindokuhle woke up at 4.30 am, packed the toddler’s lunchbox and put extra clothes in her bag.

After breakfast she dropped Okuhle off at the home of the day mother who had been looking after her since she was a year old. Then Lindokuhle made her way to work in the Bluff.

She would never see her child again. Lindokuhle’s eyes are bloodshot and she’s barely slept since that day. She has hardly eaten too – today all she’s had are two biscuits and a cool drink.

She can’t eat while her child is still out there, she says – all she wants to do is help police search for her.