A brave man who does not even have any formal training in diving, was presented with a special award by the Vhembe District Municipality, for saving the lives of 10 villagers who nearly drowned. Madala Mundalamo (46) saved the lives of nine school kids and a man who were trapped at Bevula River, near Malamulele, during the heavy rains on 14 February.

The function to award Mundalamo took place at the Thohoyandou Fire Station on Friday. Mundalamo received a trophy and two certificates. He is a junior fire fighter, based at the Thohoyandou Fire Station, and he stays at Tshikonelo village, outside Thohoyandou.

He explained what happened on the fateful day: “It was at about 12:30 when we received a call that nine school kids were trapped in a river at Bevula Village, in the Makuleke area, near Malamulele. We rushed to the scene and found confused community members and the police, who did not know what to do. The kids were on their way from school and they had to cross the river to go home. There were no divers and the kids were inside the river, but they managed to get into trees and sit on the branches. The water was becoming stronger and we were afraid that the trees would be swept away.”

Mundalamo said after five failed attempts, he went into the powerful river with a fellow community member, Steven Ngobeni (45), with ropes to rescue the kids. “We tied two ropes to the trees where the kids were trapped and another one to the banks of the river where community members waited for the kids. I delegated Steven to move to the banks with each kid at a time with a rope while I would be taking care of those in the trees.”

Mundalamo said while Steven was taking the last kid, the rope broke and Steven was swept away by the river. “The last child was already on safety on the other side of the river with community members. Steven was swept away by the heavy waters and community members were screaming with fright. Although the water was becoming stronger, I left the tree in which the children were trapped and dived into the powerful stream to save Steven.”

The brave man said he was also swept away by the water and more screams of fear were the order of the day from anxious community members. “I gave up on life and told myself that I was going to die, and I forgot about saving the life of Steven. After being swept away for about 30 minutes, I mysteriously found myself clinging to a branch of a tree. I was so tired that I just lay there, while the water continued getting stronger. After some time, I saw something being swept by the river in my direction. It was Steven and he was swept towards where I was. Although I was very tired, I managed to grab him and we rested for sometime on the branch of the tree.”

Mundalamo said that, after gathering more strength and courage, he swam to safety with Steven on his back, almost a kilometre from where the villagers were. “Steven was about to die of drowning and his stomach was full of water. I conducted first aid on him on the bank of the river and that is how I saved his life.” Mundalamo said he feels honoured by the awards from the municipality. “I feel great and this will motivate me to work hard. I never thought the municipality would do something for me, but I feel great because my contribution has been recognized at last.”

Mr Patrick Sikhutshi, the Chief Whip of the Vhembe District Municipality, who was also at the scene when Mundalamo saved the lives, said: “Mundalamo showed exceptional bravery and the municipality decided to do something to honour him. He risked his life to save the lives of others and he is a true icon of community builders, who needs to be recognized. We even feel that the prizes we presented to him today are not even enough, compared to the great job he did. We are really proud of him…”

* Madala Mundalamo became involved in emergency services when he joined the former Venda Defence Force as a soldier in 1984. In 1986, he was deployed to the Fire Fighter Section after getting some in-house training, and he worked there until he was absorbed by the Vhembe District Municipality in 2000. He is now a junior fire fighter at the Thohoyandou Fire Station. He has saved many lives in accidents and fire incidents but he did not get any recognition in the past. He is a married father with five kids.