Waterpark Deaths Not Explained

Bereaved families fight for answers from ZambiBush waterpark and police long after the deaths of their children

- Susan Puren

IT WAS A WARM AND SUNNY DAY in Pretoria on 29 November 2017 and Elna du Toit and two of her friends decided to take their children to the ZambiBush Resort in Sinoville, north of the CBD.

It was supposed to be a fun-filled day for the children who had just finished writing exams and were looking forward to the Christmas break. But within hours the outing turned into a nightmare when Elna’s son, 10-year-old Aiden, bumped his head while going down one of the resort’s supertube water slides, known as The Toilet Bowl. Despite the efforts of paramedics from a private ambulance service that had arrived to assist, Aiden was declared dead at the scene.

Some months later when his father, Deon, made inquiries about the investigation into Aiden’s death he discovered that the police docket was still empty; there were no post-mortem reports or statements from eyewitnesses filed. Du Toit says that now, more than a year after Aiden’s death, there has been very little done about the criminal case. The investigating officer, a sergeant at the Sinoville police station, is yet to take a statement from Aiden’s mother, although the docket has apparently been handed over to a state prosecutor.

Meanwhile, Deon has left no stone unturned seeking justice for Aiden. He says his motivation is not financial compensation for the loss of his son; his primary aim is to see ZambiBush shut down to prevent injury or death of other children visiting the resort. Du Toit’s have so far spent more than R280,000 on lawyers. They are currently represented by attorney Latham Dixon of the law firm Macintosh Cross & Farquharson.