Deadly SA car accident ends 10-day marriage for Zim couple

PAINFUL wails and heart-wrenching sobs filled a local mortuary hall in Bulawayo yesterday as two families that were brought together through marriage 10 days ago said their goodbyes to the couple that had united them.

The late South Africa-based couple, Shadreck Masuku (40) and Thabitha Mbambo (26) said their wedding vows on December 27 2022 in Bulawayo, and tragically died 10 days later in the neighbouring country.

The couple, alongside Thabitha’s sister, Nkosinothando Sibanda (42), died on the spot on the morning of January 7, following a car accident at Kranskop, Limpopo Province in South Africa two weeks ago.

The accident also claimed the life of an unknown friend of the couple who had asked for a lift and left the couple’s one-year 11-month daughter fighting for her life at a South African hospital.

The bodies were at a mortuary in South Africa as the family of Nkosinothando was raising funds for her body to be repatriated  as she had no funeral policy.

Efforts were spearheaded by radio personality Mr Ezra “Tshisa” Sibanda and the families managed to raise the funds to bring her back home.

In the same way the South Africa-based couple brought together hundreds of people three weeks ago, in Bulawayo, the couple and Nkosinothando managed to lure hundreds yesterday, if not more people, this time for a sad and emotional farewell.

Three hearses led hundreds of people to the Umvutsha Cemetery site in Bulawayo, where the trio was laid to rest.

Zion Christian Church members sang their hearts out and danced, raising dust at the cemetery site as they bade farewell to their departed fellow brethren.

Residents from Magwegwe and Entumbane suburbs were all in disbelief as they watched the bodies of the trio being lowered into the graves with many saying they had seen how happy the couple was on their wedding day and could not believe their lives had been cut short in such a way.

When the first heap of soil hit all three caskets in their graves, many could not hold back their tears with some in the crowd murmuring ‘lesi yisilonda esingapheliyo’, loosely translated as ‘this is a wound that will never heal’.