adminThupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
The man who lost his 38-year-old wife and one-year-old baby in the Intercape bus accident in Polokwane, South Africa, which claimed nine lives on Thursday last week has poured his heart out over the loss of his family.
Mr Walter Choga said the death of his wife and a child brought a lot of agony because he had to shuttle from one morgue to the next in South Africa’s Gauteng and Limpopo Province trying to locate their bodies.
He said he last spoke with his wife on Thursday last week at around 2000hrs before she crossed the border from Zimbabwe and was expecting his family in Johannesburg at around 0800hrs on Friday last week.
“I am at loss of words,” said Mr Choga.
“When the accident happened, my WhatsApp was offline and when they didn’t arrive at the expected time, I got worried. I tried calling her, but her phone went unanswered.
“When my WhatsApp came back online at around 2200hrs, I noticed there had been a bus accident in the Polokwane area and pictures of the accident were already circulating on social media.
“I looked for the Intercape bus company contacts online and called their call centre and they did not have good news for me.
“They told me that my child had been killed in the road accident, but they were not sure if the mother was alive or injured.”
Mr Choga said he started looking for his wife in Johannesburg hospitals, but had no joy until he decided to drive to Polokwane at night with the assistance of a friend.
He said he only managed to locate his daughter Anenyasha at a mortuary in Polokwane after searching all hospitals in the city without success.
“On Saturday, a police officer suggested that we should check all surrounding mortuaries until we finally located her at Mankweng Hospital mortuary outside Polokwane,” said Mr Choga.
“This is a very devastating experience. We were set to attend a church programme in Cape Town this week together.”
Mr Choga expressed his gratitude to the South African government and Zimbabwean Embassy officials for helping him and other relatives of the deceased morally and materially.
He said the Road Accident Fund (South Africa) had bought the caskets for all the victims, while Intercape provided transport and related costs.
“The Zimbabwe Embassy staff led by the Consular-General Mr (Henry) Mukonoweshuro was at hand and they helped us a lot in processing the repatriation papers and coordinating all necessary programmes and the smooth passage from South Africa to Zimbabwe,” he said.
Mr Choga’s wife and child will buried at Zororo Memorial Park in Harare this weekend.
Online Reporter