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Gerald Maguranyanga Traffic Friday
HERALD Reporter Moleen Machingura is the one who alerted Traffic Friday to the heartbreaking story of the unjustifiable, violent demise of a young female member of the Zimbabwe National Army, Lance Corporal Vimbai Primrose Nyagande, who perished on the spot after she was cruelly run over by a wicked, rule-breaking kombi on Monday 26 May, in the 2 Presidential Guard environs in Dzivaresekwa, Harare.
A fully attested soldier, Lance Corporal Nyagande, who had turned 25, also faithfully served as the personal assistant to the Chaplain-General, Colonel Joseph Nyakudya, at the Army Headquarters in the city.
Of course, there’s nothing new about the pathetic behaviour of the kombi on the day. It is said the kombi driver wanted to effect an insane overtaking manoeuvre on another vehicle using the wrong side. Somehow, in the process, he completely lost control. Consequently, such blatant waywardness – so commonplace on Zimbabwean roads – caused him to strike Lance Corporal Nyagande, who was going on about her lawful business, killing her on the spot.
Just like that; in that instant, prematurely extinguishing the typical dreams of any aspiring 25-year-old.
Needless to say, her family, friends and professional colleagues were thrown into sorrowful mourning and “why” questions no one can readily answer.
Because the deceased was adjudged a conscientious and loyal soldier, a befitting military parade was subsequently held in her honour at the 2 PG Barracks. Lance Corporal Nyagande was described as a focused, dedicated and committed soldier whose death was a sad loss that created a huge gap in the ZNA.
Chaplain-General Nyakudya echoed the same sentiments saying the late was a disciplined soldier who had great potential in the ZNA.
“Lance Corporal Nyagande was a promising young woman who could have scaled greater heights in the army,” he said.
“Her untimely death is painful to me and the whole Chaplains Directorate as we were expecting a lot from her.” He mourned that it was particularly sad that they lost a soldier due to reckless driving. The deceased was attested as a member into the ZNA on April 13, 2012, serving loyally since.
Rufaro Stewart Nyagande, Lance Corporal Nyagande’s father, mournfully prays for justice to be served for his beloved daughter, carelessly killed, if not murdered. Traffic Friday is unsure of the fitting charge the law will prefer on the killer kombi driver for whom it is fact that he drove recklessly on the day, thereby mowing down a citizen going about her lawful business and cruelly taking her life in a crash, and not an accident, as some would want us to un-factually believe.
These so-called accidents kombis perpetrate keep increasing in number.
Kombis are proven cop killers with a murderous trail in their wake. Does the murder of Corporal Nyagande signify a wicked shift to also now include soldiers who may lose life or limb?
It’s not too long ago that soldiers in uniform were assaulted by kombi crews in Harare, setting off anarchy.
Traffic Friday surely knows of a fresh case where a soldier was kidnapped and assaulted by a shameless kombi crew.
The authorities are encouraged to speedily bring this unrelenting kombi waywardness to a stop. In my book, that authority comes no bigger than the Commissioner-General of Police.
The judiciary, notwithstanding the perverse light penalties in the books, plays ball as far as the law allows.
With compelling evidence presented, the magistrates and judges are locking up the kombi bad guys. Traffic Friday hopes an overdue review of traffic penalties is on the cards.
Salute
In light of the many glowing tributes, Traffic Friday is compelled to join in and take a bow in salute and last respects to Lance Corporal Vimbai Primrose Nyagande, a fine Zimbabwean soldier. Traffic Friday feels even more invigorated after such a death, to help bring overdue attention to the deadly kombi menace; a hazard which means all road users are at a heightened risk of losing life and limb. May Nyagande’s soul rest in peace.
Name and shame…
The Manica Post’s Abel Zhakata reports that an unlicensed 22-year-old kombi driver who caused the death of a passenger due to negligence will spend the next three years behind bars after he was found guilty of culpable homicide in a Nyanga court. Kudzanai Nyaruwata, from Honde Valley, idiotically drove without a licence, causing the unfair death of the passenger on July 7, 2013 when he amateurishly forgot to engage the handbrake resulting in the vehicle moving backwards and crashing into a gully. One of the passengers sustained serious head injuries in the crash (accident) and she died on admission to Hauna District Hospital.
For foolishly driving without a licence, the fake driver was deservedly slapped with a six-month jail term, and three years for culpable homicide. He deservedly earned a life ban from driving Class 2 vehicles.
Kudzanai Nyaruwata is no ordinary man. He is a leading, deadly fool. He justifiably earns this week’s gong of “Rombe Resvondo Rino”.
Let’s keep the driving ‘happy, happy!’
Gerald Maguranyanga moderates Road Safety Africa, on www.facebook.com/RoadSafetyAfrica, an interactive community page that solicits ideas to curb road traffic accidents in Zimbabwe and Africa. Feedback: WhatsApp… +263 772205300
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