Speaker 1: Now, the story we're turning to is a horrific one,
Speaker 1: and I do just want to warn people that involves
Speaker 1: the killing of a young child and dogs, a pack
Speaker 1: of dogs responsible for that. So if you are either
Speaker 1: not able to listen to something like that, or perhaps
Speaker 1: you've got some young people with you and you want
Speaker 1: to just turn it down for a bit over the
Speaker 1: next four or five minutes, that's what we're going to
Speaker 1: be talking about, So do bear that in mind. At
Speaker 1: twenty four minutes past three o'clock, let's welcome to our studio.
Speaker 1: Tubby s Gorba, another of our EWN colleagues. Tubby saw
Speaker 1: a terrible tragedy out in an informal settlement in the
Speaker 1: Marathon informal settlement. It's in Germiston and a young girl
Speaker 1: sub gonke Hoe sign and our deep condolences guard to
Speaker 1: all of her family, everyone who knew her, and anybody
Speaker 1: else who I'm sure could have been traumatized by what happened.
Speaker 1: But you've been out there today, what have you seen,
Speaker 1: what have you heard, and maybe just feeling for people
Speaker 1: what happened.
Speaker 2: Good afternoon, John, As you said, it's an awful, awful story.
Speaker 2: So this incidents happened on Friday. Sibongawong, who's a three
Speaker 2: year old child, was just walking through the marathon in
Speaker 2: former sessiment on Friday afternoon. It's located in Jermeston when
Speaker 2: she was attacked by a pack of dogs. Now, obviously
Speaker 2: I won't go into much details, but the eyewitnesses we
Speaker 2: spoke to said, you know, when they found her, they
Speaker 2: found out while the dogs were still attacking her, and
Speaker 2: when they found her, you know, it was very very
Speaker 2: it was very bad. A sixty five year old man said,
Speaker 2: you know, he was one of the first people to
Speaker 2: actually be on the scene and he said, you know,
Speaker 2: he's never seen anything like that, and unfortunately she died.
Speaker 2: She died while on their way to the hospital. Now,
Speaker 2: we were they We were there today to just speak
Speaker 2: to families and just get what is happening. What we
Speaker 2: do know is that the area the marathon informal sessiment,
Speaker 2: there's a number of domesticated and also a number of
Speaker 2: straight dogs. And this is not a pit bull, because
Speaker 2: I know obviously people maybe my suspects it's a pitbull.
Speaker 2: But what we've heard from the community members and from
Speaker 2: the eyewitnesses is that this was a mixed bridge dog
Speaker 2: that was brown in color. They believed, you know, they
Speaker 2: call them like it's your normal dogs as you see
Speaker 2: in every township and every informal settiment. But the community
Speaker 2: has been shook by this, John and obviously they're now
Speaker 2: calling for the SPCA to just remove all the dogs
Speaker 2: in the area, saying that, you know, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of people in the area who keep these dogs. But unfortunately,
Speaker 2: because it's an informal sestiment and because obviously these are
Speaker 2: people who are working class in poor, they don't have
Speaker 2: enough money to actually afford these dogs. And this is
Speaker 2: a result we've heard. We also heard from the community
Speaker 2: that this is not the first time a child has
Speaker 2: been attacked. Fortunately, in the other two incidents the children survived,
Speaker 2: but unfortunately for Sibonga Gonge hoy Saana she didn't.
Speaker 1: So Toby, so you you you mentioned at the beginning
Speaker 1: of your auntswer there are both straight dogs and dogs
Speaker 1: that are have someone who will say, no, that's my dog.
Speaker 1: Do we know where these straight dogs were? Was it
Speaker 1: a mix the pack of dogs? In other words, I'm
Speaker 1: wondering if anyone can be held accountable for what happened.
Speaker 2: So there was a gentleman. The community believed that the
Speaker 2: dogs belonged to the gentlemen ran away from the community.
Speaker 2: Obviously after the incident, his shack was burned down and
Speaker 2: everything sort of scattered around. So that's what we know.
Speaker 2: And it was interesting, John that when we were there
Speaker 2: on the we were there today on the scene, we
Speaker 2: did actually see some dogs. Some dogs even the community
Speaker 2: believes that are still we're even parts of the attack.
Speaker 2: And because it's an informal sentiment that just those areas
Speaker 2: where only dogs can get to, where maybe people can't
Speaker 2: actually get to.
Speaker 1: So that's that's where we are at Tobisa. There's a
Speaker 1: family that's grieving. What can you tell us about them?
Speaker 1: Who's in the family and and and how they're responding
Speaker 1: to something that that must have turned them inside out?
Speaker 2: I mean, John, So it's a mother. It's a mother.
Speaker 2: Cebungaonke lived with her mother and older brother. And what
Speaker 2: we do know is that the mother is in a
Speaker 2: terrible state. Today she has to go identify Sybunga Wonke
Speaker 2: and we were told that she fainted and after that,
Speaker 2: you know, she just couldn't do anything. She's been lying
Speaker 2: in bed and she's been resting. Hopefully she's gonna feel
Speaker 2: a bit better in terms of in terms of the
Speaker 2: child John, she's been described, you know, as a sweet child,
Speaker 2: and I think it was sort of heartbreaking when the
Speaker 2: family spokesperson said this is a childhood she liked playing
Speaker 2: with dogs. She was a quiet, shy child, but when
Speaker 2: she saw those puppies, when she saw dogs, she liked
Speaker 2: rubbing them, and her face would actually lights up. And
Speaker 2: to think that those same dogs that actually brought her
Speaker 2: joy that actually killed her is you know, it's very heartbreaking.
Speaker 2: So in the moment, you know, the community is giving
Speaker 2: the mother all the help she can get. We do
Speaker 2: understand that the father is not in the picture and
Speaker 2: that it was just the mother and her two children.
Speaker 1: Heartbreaking stuff. Thank you Tobby so Gooba with his report
Speaker 1: on what he engaged with and saw and heard out
Speaker 1: of the marathon informal settlement in Germiston, A story of
Speaker 1: great tragedy. Coming up on the show a little bit later,
Speaker 1: we'll talk to Cora Bailey. She is founder of an
Speaker 1: organization called CLAW, which stands for Community Led Animal Welfare.
Speaker 1: They've looked at situations where you do in a community
Speaker 1: have a mix of dogs some of them who are
Speaker 1: have owners but may not be getting the attention they need.
Speaker 1: And then where there's stray dogs in the mix as well.
Speaker 1: Coral Bailey with us at ten minutes to four still
Speaker 1: to come on the show as well. We're going to
Speaker 1: get a sports update with Toler Kell and Ganga. Lots
Speaker 1: to talk about their Stephen crutis joining us after four
Speaker 1: o'clock with the very latest business news. Right now, it's
Speaker 1: half past three