Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya
Beitbridge Bureau
The Zimbabwean embassy in South Africa has started working on the repatriation of 36 bodies of the country’s citizens who perished in a horrific bus accident in Makhado, Limpopo Province, South Africa.
This follows the positive identification of their remains at the Siloam Hospital Mortuary on Monday morning.
The identification process lasted the whole day, with South African forensic experts and pathologists working hard throughout the weekend to restore and preserve most of the badly damaged remains.
Thirty adult Zimbabweans and six children perished when the bus, carrying Malawians and Zimbabweans heading to Harare and Malawi plunged into a cliff outside Makhado town along the N1 Road on Sunday last week.
The crash also claimed eight Malawian men, one woman and one child. Forty other people were injured in the crash, and as of Monday, there were 12 Zimbabweans and seven Malawians still admitted in various hospitals in Limpopo Province.
Zimbabwe’s Charge d’Affaires, Mr Shepard Gwenzi, confirmed the latest development, saying they expected the repatriation process to be concluded this week.
“On October 20, the physical identification of the deceased was successfully conducted at Siloam Hospital Mortuary, with all the bodies positively identified by next of kin,” he said.
“It is expected that the bodies would be handed over to Doves Funeral Services on October 21, 2025, for embalming in preparation for repatriation to Zimbabwe for burial.”
Limpopo’s premier, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, said on Monday that the body identification process will be thorough to ensure no family collects the wrong body for burial.
The process was done in three parts — that is, photography, physical identification and fingerprint verification and DNA tests with respect to the seven children.
