adminCletus Mushanawani in MUTARE
AUGUST 3, 1991, will remain the darkest day for the Regina Coeli Mission and Nyanga community at large.
On that day, 83 students and five members of staff perished at the hairpin bend about 20km from the school.
The B & C disaster shocked the world as innocent students lost their lives at the hands of a driver who was reported to be under the influence of alcohol.
For reasons better known to him, the driver, who also died in the accident, is said to have defied voices of reason from those familiar with the terrain and had the guts to tell them off, saying he had the experience of navigating Boterekwa in Midlands Province.
The survivors, who still vividly recall the events of that fateful night, said the speed devil was warned by a motorist, who was driving behind them, when they refuelled at Brondesbury Service Station.
But, instead, he threw caution to the wind as he presided over the signing of the innocent souls’ death warrants.
The other painful thing about the disaster is that it claimed the life of an expatriate teacher, Ms Will Stegman from Holland, who had just married.
It was reported that her husband had arrived at the school that fateful Saturday from Holland and was waiting to be united with his wife after the sporting event at St Killian’s Mission near Rusape.
Little did he know he would never meet his dear newly married wife alive.
Although it is almost 23 years after the accident, The Manica Post managed to speak to three of the survivors and the scars are still to heal and passing through the scene of the accident always opens healing wounds.
To them, August 3, 1991, was the turning point of their lives as all hopes and dreams were completely shattered.
Life has never been the same, as they tell sad tales of missed opportunities in life.
One of them was psychologically devastated resulting in the trauma of the accident taking a toll on her marriage.
The end result was divorce.
Mr Ignatius Bukuta, who was doing Form Four and survived unscathed, said he always has nightmares reliving the horror crash as it claimed the lives of some of his friends.
“When we left St Killian’s Mission, gaiety and excitement were all over the bus.
“Although our soccer team had lost to Marist Nyanga in the finals, we were excited that we had given our much-fancied opponents a good run for their money.
“However, something continued bothering me, but I do not know where this feeling was coming from. The hired B & C bus was literally flying.
“The driver was not the one who had taken us to St Killian’s. When we stopped at Brondesbury Service Station to refuel, a motorist stopped to caution the driver, but he would have none of it.
“It seems the caution provoked the devil in him as he increased speed from the service station.”
Another survivor, Mr Moses Dudzai Nyamugunduru, was doing Form Two when the accident happened and was a ‘‘cabbage’’ for two months.
“I lost two full months of life as I was in a comma.
“What I remember was that I woke up on a hospital bed at Mutare Provincial Hospital. I was first operated on in October 1991 and had to spend five months in hospital.
“I am still suffering from a painful leg up to this day.
“No one compensated us, save for the small stipends which we used to get through Social Welfare, which have since been stopped.”
Ms Sheila Doto, who was doing Form One when disaster struck, always develops goose pimples whenever she passes through the scene of the accident. The accident also had a telling effect on her unsuccessful marriage.
“I spent three weeks without uttering a word and was bleeding through the nose, mouth and eyes. I lost two front teeth and although I was a promising netball player, I never set foot on a netball field after the accident.
“The accident also closed doors for me on all educational trips because every time I set foot on public transport; the events of August 3 just triggered a sense of panic in me.
“Whenever I pass through the scene of the accident, I just close my eyes because the pain is just unbearable.”
l This article was published by our sister newspaper, Manica Post, on February 22, 2014
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter