I warned truck driver - relative

SIGWE – “I warned driver against speeding.”

7his is the advice that a member of the Zwane family is said to have giv en to the driver of the mini trucN that claimed lives.

7he family member shared this dur ing the vigil of the victims, most of whom were from a Zwane family.

7he family member said he warned the driver when they arrived at the traditional ceremony, not Nnowing the worst was yet to come.

)ollowing the vigil, the victims were buried in a mass funeral yesterday morning, estimated to have been at tended by close to mourners.

7he deaceased were involved in an accident while returning from a traditional ceremony at 2ndiyaneni over the (aster weeNend. 7here were initially people on board the mi ni trucN, whose driver lost control of and it landed in a ditch.

Homicide

7he driver of the mini trucN, 7hula MNhumane, was charged with counts of culpable homicide and one for driving without a licence.

7hulani Zwane, a brother to deceased 7hanta]o Zwane, told the mourners that he also attended the ceremony, though he was travelling in his own car. He said he was among those who were tasNed with coordinating the whole traditional ceremony.

$long the way, he said, when they were around 1go]i, together with the passengers in his car, they Tues tioned the min trucN driver why he was speeding.

Zwane told the mourners that upon arrival at the venue, he called the driver and Tuestioned him why he was speed ing. He stated that he warned him not to speed on his way bacN. ³/ittle did , Nnow that we were yet to e[perience the worst,´ he said. He stated that when he received the call, he was in disbelief.

Scene

He said he was more shocNed upon arrival at the scene, where he found his relatives¶ lifeless bodies scattered on the ground.

More relatives shared that the death of their relatives lived bad memories as some of the deceased¶s siblings also died in accidents, while others were burnt to death in different incidents.

2ne family shared that their deceased relative was the only survivor after both her parents had passed on. ,n fact, it was said that there was a child headed family that was left behind after the only elderly person died in the mini trucN accident.

7he families shared that they were looNing forward to a great future from the children as they were young.

(Nuthuleni Indvuna Henry Mamba appreciated the people who supported the families during their difficult times. He sent a word of comfort to the fam ilies and urged them to unite and not to blame anyone for what happened.

(mphasising on same was %rian Zwane, who spoNe on behalf of the ,nternational Zwane &ommunity.

He stated that they were not supposed to accuse anyone for what transpired, in particular, the MNhumane family.

Service

³,f you hated each other you were not going to reTuest his services, so do not start hating him now,´ he said. He added that no one was supposed to say anything foul to them or lie about anything at all. He said his prayer was for *od to deal with whosoever would tarnish their name.

He reTuested the Zwanes to forgive

One of the relatives being assisted as she was emotional at the graveyard. (C) Thulani Zwane, who shared that he warned the arrested driver, Thula Mkhumane against speeding when they were headed to the traditional ceremony and little did he know that there would be an accident there after. (R) Mourners were engulfed with emotion as the coffins were lowered into the ground at the graveyard.

Some of the coffins of the 10 people who died in an accident at Siphambanweni. The funeral was at Timphandzeni under Sigwe Constituency in the Shiselweni Region. The coffins were placed next to each grave before they were lowered into the ground.

(sitsinjana)