adminlooked forward to life ahead.
Her parents, in particular her father, former Senior Assistant Police Commissioner Alfred Musengi, was proud of Molly and her achievements. Molly belonged to his heart.
On the fateful day, Molly had plans to go to Harare, presumably for a job interview. His father who lived with her at his Southview suburb home in Gweru offered to take her along with him later in the afternoon since he also had a mission to the capital city.
Molly could not wait; she would be late for her business engagements in Harare.
“I urged her to wait so we could travel together. Maybe she thought she would bother me by asking me to leave earlier, so she left,” said a tearful Musengi narrating her daughter’s ordeal to relatives.
At 11am on the same day, Musengi got the least expected message; her daughter had been burnt beyond recognition in a veld fire accident a few kilometres after Chegutu.
And then came the million-dollar question that occupied friends, mourners, relatives and even the father who himself is an accomplished police officer.
Could this accident have been avoided and even if it happened the way it did could the victims have got better emergency services?
The accident was a clear testimony to everyone of the collapse of emergency service delivery in the country. In fact, Molly suffered the brunt of the collapse of service delivery and the lack of law enforcement right from the time she boarded a Mazda MPV which served as a commuter omnibus on Friday to the time she passed away four days later on Tuesday September 18 2012.
David Mafukidze, a teacher at Vimbai High School in Norton, said he got to the scene of the accident a few minutes after the MPV had caught fire.
The unidentified MPV driver is said to have since returned to his base in Ntabazinduna got to the point of the fire when the fire was raging on both sides of the road.
Mafukidze said a number of motorists parked on either side of the road waiting for the blaze to subside before they could cross but the MPV driver would not have any of it. He drove through the middle of the road and an explosion was heard when he was halfway through.
The petrol tank had given in and the car had caught fire. No one saw exactly what happened because of the thick smoke from the veld fire, which reduced visibility to a few metres, according to Mafukidze.
Police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Mandipaka later said the MPV had eight passengers and the police version is that the car burst a tyre and swerved into the fire where it was reduced to a shell.
Molly and Alice Chibaya, a student at Gweru General Hospital who are presumed to have been at the back seat, were trapped in the car and burnt beyond recognition before they were pulled out, according to Mafukidze. However, Supt Mandipaka said the number of the badly burnt was three and all died within days after being admitted to Parirenyatwa.
Molly sustained 82 percent degree burns while Alice suffered 92 percent degree burns. Alice died a day before Molly and she was buried at her rural home in Mwenezi. Doctors said one needed a miracle to survive with 45 percent degree burns. Molly and Alice had no chance therefore.
In the light of this tragedy, Molly’s father and many mourners could not stop asking questions about the country’s service delivery and law enforcement.
The first question naturally was about the rampant veld fires that go unchecked everywhere. Things used not to be like this in the past. One would go to jail for starting a fire and secondly communities would make strenuous efforts to put out a fire whenever there was an outbreak. These days no one is bothered by a veld fire, at least until it threatens his/her homestead or other property.
Police must certainly have known about this dangerous fire and at least moved in to control traffic along the road. Witnesses said there was no police up until the injured had been taken to hospital, almost an hour later. The fire was just five kilometres from Chegutu where there is a police station.
The fire brigade, according to Mafukidze, had not arrived at the scene until after the injured were on their way to Chegutu Hospital.
It is understood that the fire brigade that eventually turned up had come all the way from Harare. There seemed to be no fire brigade on standby in Norton, Chegutu or Kadoma, which are all within 40 kilometres of the accident.
“There was no ambulance in sight as the injured lay on the side of the road crying out for help. When the ambulance did arrive, the MPV was just a smouldering shell,” said Mafukidze.
Mafukidze and fellow teachers, Knowledge Musiiwa, Chamunorwa Matumhe and Givemore Patsika-Mambo had to carry the injured into a Zimbabwe National Army bus that passed by the scene of the fire.
The injured were made to sleep on the seats of the bus and the skins had peeled off.
“I was also surprised that many motorists could pass by the accident without offering any help. It was an agonising experience for me.
“The injured were crying and asking for people to pour some water on their heavily burnt bodies, they were also pleading for water to drink,” said Mafukidze.
It took hours for the two to be transferred from Chegutu to Parirenyatwa Hospital. They only arrived at Parirenyatwa at around 4pm.
“I am happy with the service that my daughter got at Parirenyatwa Hospital. The doctors and nurses did their best. However, I remain traumatised by the experience and the lack of urgency at the scene of the accident,” said Musengi.
Musengi said he had not seen any police officer since the accident happened. He at least would have been happy to find out from the police how the accident happened.
Musengi was baffled on phoning Chegutu police four days after burial, to realise that the officers appeared unaware that the two victims had since died in hospital. Chegutu also seemed not to be clear about the accident since different statements would be given at different times.
Mourners were keen to know whether the MPV was licensed as a public transport vehicle and they wanted to know whether the driver had the necessary papers as a commuter omnibus driver.
Online Reporter