Vusumuzi Dube
Judith Phiri, Sunday News Reporter
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has sent a condolence message to the families of 22 people who died when a Toyota Quantum they were travelling in was involved in a head-on collision with a truck along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Road on Tuesday evening.
All 22 people including the driver of the Quantum died on the spot while two people- the driver of the DAF truck and one passenger from the Quantum, were injured and are admitted at the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH).
In a statement, the President said the fatal accident left him horrified and heart-broken.
“The death of 22 Zimbabweans in a head-on collision along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Highway on Tuesday night left me horrified and heart-broken. What adds to the horror is that this accident comes barely days after two separate similar ones in which nine innocent lives also perished,” he said.
“Zimbabwe does not deserve this at all, let alone such a bloody beginning to this year’s festive season. Everything has to be done to arrest this needless loss of life at a time when we all should be celebrating closure to yet another peaceful year.I thus appeal to all motorists to exercise maximum caution on our roads, both for their sake and for the safety of fellow road users who do not deserve a violent end such as we have just witnessed.”
President Mnangagwa directed all arms of Government seized with the responsibility of ensuring safety on the roads to work around the clock and to use all means and powers lawfully available to them to reduce if not put an end to such carnage.
He said no effort should be spared towards ensuring compliance with the traffic rules, in order to avert any more such accidents which invariably leave scores dead and injured.
“Government will weigh in by according victims of this horrendous crash State-assisted burial. As I express my deepest, heartfelt condolences to families and relatives who have lost their loved ones in this deadly crash, my heart goes out to all those injured and still hospitalized, praying that theirs will be a speedy recovery,” he added.
“Let us, as a Nation, use this latest bloody accident to develop a new road culture which is founded on responsible, safety-conscious and law-abiding behaviour. We owe one another no less.”
Online Reporter