Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya-Beitbridge Bureau
Mr Jefias Mukuwe had lived in Cape Town since 2009, working as a tiler and running a small business with his wife Elsie Mutero.
On July 31, 2026, he boarded a Munhenzva bus with his wife and three children, heading to Zimbabwe to introduce the children to their rural home.
The three children, Star (13), Vallery (3) and Angel (2) were all born and raised in South Africa and were going to meet their older sibling who is in Form Four in Mutare.
However, they never made it past Trompsburg in the Free State Province. The bus was towing a trailer when it lost its brakes along the N1 Highway and began to swerve. Passengers stood up and shouted at the driver to control the bus as it moved in a zig-zag pattern.
The last words Mr Mukuwe heard from his wife before impact were, “this situation now needs God.” Then the bus overturned and 10 people died at the scene, and one more later died in hospital.
Mr Mukuwe survived, but his world collapsed in the minutes that followed. He had to look for his family amid a pool of dead bodies and the injured, and he stepped through a bloodied scene, calling out names while rescue teams worked through wreckage.
Mr Jefias Mukuwe lost his wife and three children in the bus crash.
He found the remains of his wife in a valley below the road, and six children were on the tarmac, and at one point he held his two-year-old daughter Angel, badly injured, and hoped she would live.
Unfortunately, she died a few moments after being ferried away by an ambulance.
“It was traumatising to walk through dead bodies and others trapped in the wreckage,” said the grief-stricken Mr Mukuwe in a low voice.
“The worst moment was sifting through dead bodies looking for my family. Throughout the journey I had been carrying my daughter on my lap while the mother carried Vallery and Star was busy with his smartphone.”
He said pain overwhelmed him as he located his wife and three children.
“I started feeling sharp pains in my back, hand and chest. Medical staff told me that I passed out at the scene. I woke up the following day in hospital, where doctors told me that Angel had also died a few moments after they had put her in an ambulance. It was painful, I still feel the pain,” said Mr Mukuwe.
Before the crash, he said a man on the bus appeared possessed and was picking fights with everyone, and he was dropped off around Bloemfontein, where he also stripped naked until police intervened.
“The accident happened shortly after that stop,” said Mr Mukuwe.
Another survivor, 23-year-old Mr Kudakwashe Jena, who was travelling from Cape Town to Harare, was among the last to be picked up.
Kudakwashe Jena had his right hand amputated after the accident.
He worked as a delivery driver and had been lying on the scene for some time after rescue workers assumed he was dead.
Mr Jena was in a coma and lost his right hand after an amputation a week later.
“The bus kept swerving, and I became numb when I noticed we were about to get into an accident,” he said.
“This is very devastating. However, I thank the Government through all its agencies, and I appreciate the work of the embassy staff in South Africa led by Mr (Eria) Phiri. It took a lot of counselling for me to go through the surgery to amputate my right hand”.
Mr Mukuwe’s wife and three children were buried in Buhera under Chief Nyashanu in Chirozva village. He said he received counselling from embassy staff in South Africa and that for now he is still in pain and relies on painkillers to manage it.
He looked devastated as he spoke outside the Beitbridge Border Post’s Port Health section, and he thanked President Mnangagwa and the Government for helping him at his darkest hour with transport, coffins, medical bills and groceries.
“I couldn’t have managed to bring back my family alone considering all the logistics involved, including paying for my medical bills. The President and his Government have shown compassion at my greatest hour of need,” said Mr Mukuwe.
So far the Government has said it will continue to pay medical bills for 13 survivors still admitted in South African hospitals.
Five are at Pelonomi Tertiary Hospital and eight at Universitas Academic Hospital.
Back in Beitbridge, grief filled the Doves Funeral Services parlour as families waited for the repatriated bodies.
President Mnangagwa declared the tragedy a State of Disaster on August 1, paving the way for Government to mobilise resources.
Consul-General to South Africa, in Johannesburg, Mr Eria Phiri, led the Zimbabwe Embassy team that escorted the bodies from Free State to Beitbridge last Saturday.
“We departed at 5pm on Friday. We received overwhelming support from our host government,” Mr Phiri said on arrival.
He said six of the bodies were badly decapitated and identification was difficult.
“However, the relatives had pictures, and some knew the tattoos and other body features,” he said.
Deputy Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Albert Mavunga, was the chief mourner at the mass memorial service.
“It is with profound sorrow that I stand before you today. On behalf of President Mnangagwa, the Government of Zimbabwe and indeed on my own behalf, I wish to extend our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families on this sad, untimely and tragic loss of your beloved family members,” he said.
“The 11 deceased were not just statistics. They were mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, relatives, friends and our neighbours from Buhera, Bikita, Hwedza, Zvishavane, Beatrice and Shurugwi.”
The deceased are Grace Machingura, Michelyn Tinekutenda Makunura, Mashura Phillip, Mashura Shyln Merlin, Madhoro Nyaradzo, Mutero Ellis, Mukuwe Vallary, Mukuwe Angel Vanissa, Mukuwe Star, Sheilla Gondo and Praise Anyway Rukombo.
Mr Innocent Mashura of Shurugwi also buried his brother Phillip and niece Shyln Merlin in Shurugwi under Chief Banga on Sunday.
Mr Innocent Mashura of Shurugwi buried his brother and niece who perished in the accident.
“My brother was a father figure to me and the rest of the Mashura family members,” he said, still in shock.
In the aftermath of the accident, Munhenzva Bus Service extended US$400 and transport for mourners to each grieving family.
In addition, Doves Funeral Services CEO, Mr Farai Matsika, also travelled to Beitbridge to witness the repatriation.
Doves has supported Government repatriation programmes for years to ensure dignified burials for Zimbabweans wherever they die.
Matabeleland South Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Albert Nguluvhe, was represented by his director of HR and Administration.
He extended condolences to the families and thanked Government and the President for the assistance.
Beitbridge RDC chairperson, Clr Oscar Chiromo, thanked both the Zimbabwe and South African governments for a coordinated repatriation.
A representative of the grieving families, Mrs Precious Gondo, also appreciated the consulate for its support.
A representative of the grieving families, Mrs Precious Gondo.
As caskets were loaded for departure to different home areas, wailing filled the air.
Mr Mukuwe stood quietly, staring at four caskets that held everything he had built for 17 years in South Africa.
He is still in a state of shock and he keeps replaying the swerving bus and his wife’s last words.
For the families of the 11, the commemorations this Heroes Month will carry a different weight; their loved ones died far from home, but were brought back with dignity.
The Government has urged all road users to exercise caution during the holiday.
