PHILIPPI, WESTERN CAPE – The murky, stagnant waters of a dam in the Jim se Bos informal settlement have become a graveyard for hope, claiming the lives of two young boys in a tragedy that has ignited a firestorm of grief and anger against local authorities. On 8 February, twelve-year-old Sebastiaan Absalom Sebastiaan died a hero, attempting to rescue his nine-year-old friend from the depths of a water body that residents have long warned is a "death trap" for the community's children.
Tasha Sebastiaan, Sebastiaan's mother, sat amidst the dust and makeshift structures of the settlement this week, her voice trembling as she recounted the final moments of her son's life. "He died a hero," she said, her eyes fixed on the distance. "But he shouldn't have had to die at all. If the authorities had done their jobs, my boy would be here today." Her words echo a growing sentiment in Cape Town's informal settlements, where a lack of basic safety infrastructure and delayed emergency responses are increasingly being cited as the true culprits behind a string of preventable deaths.
The tragedy unfolded on a Sunday afternoon while Tasha was busy with the mundane task of washing clothes. Sebastiaan and his nine-year-old friend had gone to play, a common sight in an area where formal recreational facilities are non-existent. The two boys were playing on a surfboard in the dam before the younger boy fell into the water. Shouting in terror that he could not swim, the nine-year-old's cries spurred Sebastiaan into action. Without hesitation, the twelve-year-old plunged into the murky water to save his friend.
It was nearly an hour later when the reality of the situation reached Tasha. "It was half an hour or fifty minutes later, one of the boys came to scream, ‘Aunty Tasha, Aunty Tasha, Sebastiaan is drowning'," she recalled. The panic that followed was visceral. "I ran to the dam, and when I got there, I was crying, and I was so confused, I jumped into the dam, but some people took me out."
As the community gathered, the desperation turned to frustration. Residents claim that while ambulance personnel and fire and rescue services arrived, the specialised police divers required for a deep-water recovery were nowhere to be found. "Then, more people came trying to search. One of the men jumped in because we waited for the police divers, but they never came," Tasha explained. It was the community members themselves who eventually braved the dangerous waters to retrieve the children.
The scene at the water's edge was one of chaotic heartbreak. Tasha remembered the moment the first boy was pulled out: "I just remembered that they first got the other boy, and he was still breathing and moving his hand." However, for Sebastiaan, the wait was too long. "After two or three hours, they found my boy, but it was too late for him."
The mother's grief is compounded by what she describes as a total failure of the emergency medical response on the scene. "The ambulance didn't even do mouth-to-mouth, nothing, because they said they didn't have equipment," she alleged. "If the police divers were here on time, they could've saved our children." Her accusations paint a grim picture of a two-tier emergency system where those in informal settlements are left to fend for themselves with inadequate resources.
The authorities, however, have offered a different account. Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk confirmed that both bodies were taken out of the dam by the community before the SAPS Western Cape Water Policing and Diving Services arrived. "Kindly be advised that both bodies were taken out by the community. When SAPS divers arrived, both bodies were taken out of the dam already," van Wyk stated. Both children were declared deceased on the scene and transported to the mortuary in separate ambulances.
The Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness has also moved to defend its personnel. Spokesperson Shimoney Regter stated that EMS personnel assessed both children and found "no signs of life at the time of assessment." Addressing the mother's claims about lack of equipment, Regter insisted: "All WCDHW EMS vehicles are licensed in line with the Western Cape Ambulance Act of 2012 and are equipped according to prescribed standards. All EMS practitioners are appropriately trained, registered and provide care within approved clinical protocols."
This incident is not an isolated one. In October 2025, just months prior, a seven-year-old boy named Likhanye Cwethu drowned in a similar dam in the nearby Marikana informal settlement in Philippi East. In that instance, community leaders also pointed to a lack of "preventable measures," such as fencing around deep-water hazards. The City of Cape Town has previously stated that many of these settlements exist on privately owned land, complicating efforts to install permanent safety infrastructure.
For the residents of Jim se Bos, the dam is a symbol of the neglect they face daily. The settlement, which has been ravaged by devastating fires in recent years—including a massive blaze in 2021 that destroyed nearly 200 structures—continues to struggle for basic services like electricity and running water. The absence of safe play areas for children means that hazardous sites like the dam become default playgrounds, especially during the sweltering Cape summers.
As the families of Sebastiaan and his friend begin the process of burying their children, the community's anger remains palpable. The surfboard used by the boys, now a haunting reminder of the tragedy, sits by the water that claimed them. "They call him a hero, and he was," a neighbour remarked, looking over the stagnant pond. "But we are tired of burying heroes. We want fences. We want police who come when we call. We want our children to grow up."
The Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness noted that they have not yet received a formal complaint from Tasha Sebastiaan regarding the conduct of the EMS personnel. For Tasha, however, the formal process is secondary to the void left by her son's absence. Her focus remains on the systemic failures she believes stole her son's future. The investigation into the drownings continues, but for Jim se Bos, the verdict on the authorities' performance has already been delivered in the tears of a grieving mother.
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