‘I Thought I’d Lost Them Forever’: Durban Dad’s Fight for Justice After Twins’ Lift Shaft Tragedy
The late-afternoon sun filters through the window onto a purple yoga mat where Khaya Dlamini gently guides his daughter’s arm through a careful stretch.
Just months ago, such movement was impossible.
Both of little Aphile’s arms were broken after she and her seven-year-old twin brother, Aphelele, plunged four floors down a lift shaft under repair at their Durban apartment building in October last year.
Aphelele died instantly. Aphile survived — but only just.
Today, her bones have healed and, with her father’s steady hands supporting her elbow, she is slowly rebuilding her strength.
For Khaya (38), every stretch is a reminder of both devastating loss and miraculous survival.
The Fall That Changed Everything
The twins had been playing with friends when they fell down the open lift shaft at the HOMII Lifestyle building in Durban’s city centre.
Aphile suffered a collapsed lung, fractured spine, broken arms and severe head injuries. She was placed in a medically induced coma for nearly a month as doctors fought to save her life.
Aphelele could not be saved.
Khaya still struggles to describe what he saw when he reached the basement that Saturday evening.
“There, at the bottom of the shaft, lay my children – one motionless, one barely clinging to life,” he recalls.
He climbed down first to reach Aphelele, carrying his son’s lifeless body up through the darkness. Then he went back for Aphile.
“It was so traumatic to see my kids in that state,” he says quietly. “Those images are always coming back. I mean, I’m going to live with this the rest of my life.”
A Birthday Marked by Grief
One week before what would have been the twins’ eighth birthday on 1 November, Aphelele was buried in Howick.
On that same day, hundreds of people marched through Durban demanding justice and calling for the HOMII Lifestyle building — where another resident, 20-year-old Andiswa Mantshongo, died in a lift shaft accident in 2023 — to be shut down.
“Although it was painful I felt honoured that the march happened the very same day they were born,” Khaya says.
Police opened an inquest docket into Aphelele’s death. Khaya says he is pursuing legal action to hold those responsible accountable, alleging the lift doors were left unsecured during repairs without warning signs or proper safety measures.
“I’m not doing this just for myself,” he says. “I’m doing it to prevent it from happening to someone else.”
A Fight for Life
While the legal process unfolds, Khaya’s daily focus is Aphile.
Five days after being admitted to hospital, doctors performed a tracheostomy to help her breathe. For nearly a month she lay in a coma, her condition critical.
Khaya rarely left her bedside. He sang to her, played her favourite song — Baby Shark, which she and her brother used to dance to — and held her hand.
“Something deep down in me said, ‘Do not give up. Aphile will make it.’”
In mid-November, she began to stir. Her eyelids flickered. Her fingers twitched.
“My hope was restored,” he says. “I realised that God really has been there.”
By December, Aphile was strong enough to go home.
Khaya quit his IT job to become her full-time caregiver. He now manages her medication, meals and daily physiotherapy exercises. She uses a wheelchair due to her spinal injury, though doctors believe she may walk again.
She still battles breathing problems and attends weekly counselling to process the trauma.
“Sometimes late at night she just wakes up crying and says, ‘I’m dreaming of falling,’” Khaya says.
Explaining the Unthinkable
When Aphile’s breathing tube was removed and she could speak again, she asked about her twin.
Khaya struggled to find the words.
“I told her, Aphelele is not dead. He is alive, but now in his spiritual world — he is an angel,” he says.
Photographs of Aphelele are displayed throughout their new flat — in the bedroom, near the kitchen and on top of the TV — helping keep his memory alive.
“She still asks about him,” Khaya says softly.
A Family’s Breaking Point
The tragedy claimed more than one life.
Five days after Aphelele’s funeral, Khaya’s mother-in-law, Alvina Mdlalose — who had been deeply bonded with the twins — collapsed from stress and heartbreak. She died shortly thereafter.
“I lost everything that day,” Khaya says.
Turning Pain into Purpose
Even before the tragedy, Aphelele had shown compassion beyond his years.
Last June, he spotted a hungry child at Durban’s South Beach and asked if he could give him his burger. Then he posed a bigger question: could they feed more children like him?
Khaya plans to honour that wish by launching the Dlamini Twins Foundation in November, the twins’ birthday month. The foundation aims to serve vulnerable families and advocate for child safety and justice.
While his legal team prepares a civil case against the apartment building, Khaya says his mission is about accountability — and prevention.
“Fighting for justice for my children means a lot to me,” he says.
At home, the rhythm of recovery continues. On the purple mat, father and daughter move through another stretch. Slow. Careful. Determined.
“She’s motivating us,” Khaya says. “She has become our remedy.”
