Zikhona Rengoe, 24, also lost her mother and son, Elihle, 3, in last weekend’s flash flood at the river in Bramley Park, Johannesburg, where a group of people were attending a baptism. Fifteen people died.
 

Her baby, Sinesihle, is still missing, presumed dead. Johannesburg Emergency Medical Services is continuing its search for her.

“How can it be that I lost such important people in my life just like that? This feels surreal, ” a distraught Rengoe told the Sunday Times this week.

She said the bodies of her mother, Sheila Rengoe, 51, and Elihle had been recovered.

Recounting the tragedy, Rengoe said everything had at first seemed normal. It was about 3.30pm and a few people were in the water as the pastor, Kind Kupe, prayed for them.

They could see dark clouds in the distance that suggested heavy rain might be coming or that there was a downpour in other parts of the city.

“Then we saw a huge surge of water coming down the river. I was standing on the side of the river holding my baby in my hands. My son was also standing next to me. I thought we were in a safe spot because we were not in the water,” she said.

“As we were still trying to understand what was happening, the water came and swept us away. I screamed and tried to hold my children tight but the water was just too strong and took the baby from my hands,” she said, weeping.

“I saw a tree coming down with the water that I think was uprooted from another part. I grabbed it and somehow the water threw me out and I clung onto another tree on the side of the river for safety. At this point I couldn ’ t tell where my children were.

“It was just chaos because we were all screaming and some people were trying to help us. Everything happened so fast. How the water got to me is something I cannot explain. I can’t even tell you at what point my baby left my hands.”

Rengoe, who is unemployed and lives in a one-roomed home in Alexandra that she shared with her late mother and children, said she had previously been baptised in the same river.

“I just don’t know what happened on that day. How am I going to live without the most important people in my life? I am hoping someone wakes me and tells me it’s all been a terrible dream.”

She said she helped with the search until Wednesday, when she hurt her leg.

“I’m in physical and emotional pain. I’m not okay.”

Just a few blocks from Rengoe’s home, another family grieves the loss of two members. Ngoma Mguni lost his wife, Lizzy Masola, 60, and granddaughter, Kgothatso Masola, 19.

Mguni said he left his wife and granddaughter at home. They had told him they were going to the baptism ceremony.

“I didn’t knowwe were seeing each other for the last time,” he said.

He said his family were not church members but often went to the pastor for help.

Mguni believes bad spirits linked to Satanism may have caused the flash floods.