A Durban family is reeling from a devastating tragedy after their seven-year-old twin son, Aphelele, was killed and his sister, Aphile, was seriously injured in a fall down a lift shaft. The incident at a block of flats has prompted outrage and calls for accountability from the building’s management.
The father, Khayelihle Dlamini, an IT support specialist, recounted the harrowing moment he discovered his children had fallen from the fourth floor. He described receiving a knock on his door from his children’s friends, who told him they had “fell into a hole.”
“When I went there they pointed [to] the door of a lift. When I pushed that door open… there was nothing. It’s just an open shaft,” Dlamini said. In a state of shock, he rushed to the ground floor and then to the basement, where he made a grim discovery.
“I saw something white down to the basement… I knew that it was my son,” he stated. With the assistance of other tenants, Dlamini jumped in to rescue the twins. “They were badly hurt, bleeding excessively from the eyes, the nose, the ears, the mouth.”
Aphelele was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital. His sister, Aphile, remains in a coma at Addington Hospital, suffering from multiple injuries including bleeding on the brain.
Dlamini revealed that one of the two lifts in the building had been out of order since his family moved into the rental unit three months ago. He asserts that no warning signs or barriers were in place to prevent access to the faulty lift.
“There was no notice. There was no signages… by the look, if you leave there, it could have happened to anyone. It looks like a working lift until you touch that door,” he said, emphasizing the latent danger.
He further claims that the building manager only cleaned up the blood in the basement and erected warning signs after the incident and before police arrived. Dlamini also stated that the family was refused access to the building’s CCTV footage from that night and that the only offers of support from management were a bag of groceries and a teddy bear, which he refused.
The owners of the building, Homii Lifestyle Management, have issued a statement. A spokesperson said, “a full investigation is underway,” adding that “the safety and well-being of the residents and community members remain our utmost priority.”
Police at Durban Central have registered an inquest docket for investigation.
As the official probe continues, a traumatised Khayelihle Dlamini is considering legal action. He says his family has not been offered counselling and he is left with constant flashbacks of the incident that took his son and critically injured his daughter.