A tragic incident has left Harare residents in shock when a four-year-old boy from Park View died this Wednesday after falling into an open sewer pipe.

The open sewer pipe left unattended for close to two years has become a death trap.

The four-year-old boy, Kupakwashe Majoka, who was playing with his friends fell into the sewer drain and his body was discovered 10km from the opening of the sewer pipe.

Playtime turned tragic when he was violently sucked into an open sewer pipe a few metres from his parents’ home.

A search and rescue effort that included the Fire Brigade and residents lasted for two hours before the body was recovered at the sewer outlet in Mufakose.

The family of the child is traumatised.

“I left home in the morning and upon reaching my workplace, I received a phone call that Kupa drowned in a sewer pipe,” said Kupakwashe’s mother, Dzidzai Magumura

“Just like any other day, I stayed behind with the child. Kupa and his friends were playing outside. I was shocked when the other two kids told me Kupa fell into the sewer drain,” said the maid, North Matanga.

The sewer pipe is one of the several unattended openings dotted around the area with residents accusing the City of Harare of negligence.

“We have small children, each day we live in fear that something tragic is going to happen. At my house, there is a large open sewer that we discovered when we relocated here in 2010,” said a resident.

Another said, “We blame the City Council for failing to do their maintenance work. It’s called negligence. We have made several reports about these open sewer pipes but they do not even care to come and repair.”

“This is a third case of someone drowning in these sewer pipes, but nothing has been done to rectify the issue,” added a resident.

Harare City Council Head of Corporate Communications, Mr Stanley Gama urged the public to report any damaged infrastructure.

“We repair all damaged sewer pipes because this exposes the public to diseases such as cholera. However, on this particular incident, the engineers from the water department are saying the issue was never reported while residents are saying they reported the case. We are still investigating what happened and why was the sewer pipe not attended to for a long time,” he said.

It is generally believed that the tragic incident could have been avoided if the local authority had addressed the anomaly.