Boy’s first year in school cut short
His brother, friend hurt as taxi rams into them
The mother of a six-year-old boy who died on Tuesday on his way to school says her life will never be the same again.
Sphesihle Mkhwanazi, a Grade 1 pupil at PS Tsosane Primary School in Ivory Park Ext 3, near Tembisa, died when a taxi hit him.
He was crossing a road with his brother Mndeni, 9, and their friend Sphesihle Nhlengethwa, 8, when tragedy struck.
Mndeni was admitted to hospital with injuries while Nhlengethwa had a broken arm and fractured knee.
The deceased’s mother Sibongile Mkhwanazi, 27, said from her shack yesterday: “The pain is so deep. I can’t explain it. I feel his absence already. He was hyper, loud ... he was very active and clever.”
Sitting next to her as she mourned her son was her mother, Favourite Mkhwanazi, 50, who tried to comfort her.
The unemployed Sibongile, who has two other children, said she normally walked her son to school. She still doesn’t know why she allowed him to leave with his brother and his friend on the fateful Tuesday.
“I used to accompany him to school and fetched him everyday since he started. Yesterday was just one of those days that you can’t explain. I was intending to fetch him in the afternoon myself,” she said.
Sibongile said she was informed about what happened 15 minutes after her childern had left for school.
“I ran to the scene but people prevented me from going nearer. A few minutes later, a woman came to me and said I must come and see my child for the last time ... I just knew then that he was gone.”
Favourite, who works at a car wash and is the breadwinner, said the taxi driver was driving towards oncoming traffic. “Witnesses said there was traffic and the driver was impatient. There was a car that had blocked traffic to allow school children to cross.
“He drove in the wrong lane at high speed and the children were already on the road and he could not stop.”
Favourite said she had no means to bury her grandson.
The local Ivory Park Taxi Association has since come to the family’s rescue.
Spokesman Eric Dlamini said the association would provide transport and assist the family with food.
Favourite said: “The taxi owner also came here and offered to bury my grandchild. The taxi people lifted a huge burden off my shoulders and now I can focus on mourning my grandchild and supporting my daughter.”
Police spokesman Captain Bernard Matimulane said the driver was charged with culpable homicide and reckless and negligent driving.
The fatal taxi’s owner, Wilson Simelane, said he was traumatised by the incident.
Simelane yesterday said although he had been a taxi driver himself for 21 years and now owns six taxis, this was the first time that one of his vehicles was involved in an accident where someone died.
“I don’t know what to say, I am hurting. There is nothing I can do but assist the family through this painful period. I have already paid mortuary services and I am going back to the family to give them food that I had bought for them.”