A SOMBRE mood permeated Ngaone Village of Chipinge district where the remains of four Zimbabwean family members, who were killed in a road accident in South Africa, were finally interred at their rural homestead on Wednesday.
Godfrey Tonde Sithole, his wife Faith Mutisi, their two daughters Shalom and Shekina, died on the spot when their fairly new car, a Toyota Fortuner, was involved in a head-on collision with a Porsche Cayenne on the N11 highway near Modelkloof in South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal Province on October 12.
There was no body viewing rite as the dead were burnt beyond recognition. Apparently, Sithole and his family were coming from Ngaone Village where they had gone for a week-long visit.
However, news of the Sithole family’s fatal accident was broken to some of their relatives through social media before official channels could inform them.
His cousin Cleopas Mlambo said:
“I first saw their pictures and a caption on a Whatsapp group stating that they had been involved in an accident. I was so disturbed and reached out to my brother who was also not aware. That was some hours after it had happened. We then got official communication from South Africa through our relatives also based in the same country the next day.”
He said it was difficult to believe that the deceased had been involved in an accident after they had communicated earlier on saying they had arrived safely.
“It was difficult to believe at first because he had communicated to a number of relatives who then posted on a family WhatsApp group that he had arrived safely. I think he sent out those messages because he was near to his place but he had not yet arrived,” he said.
Mrs Mavis Muzhanje, mother to Godfrey’s wife, could barely come to terms with losing her daughter and breadwinner.
“This is so painful. She was the breadwinner in our family. Together with her husband they were taking care of us well. We really do not know how we will move on from here. They did everything for us including paying school fees for a number of children in the family.”
Mrs Muzhanje said she had a dream about an accident a day before it happened.
The accident occurred at night between Ladysmith and Newcastle in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
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