Empty classrooms, broken hearts
FOR any family, death is an unwelcome visitor, a thief that steals what is held dearest.
Bisaar Mazivisa (45) knows this truth all too well. Nearly a fortnight ago, a tragic accident snatched his wife, Everjoice Ngwenya (38), from him, leaving a gaping hole in his heart and a family shrouded in grief.
Bisaar and Everjoice — married for 12 years — shared a love nurtured through daily routines.
A morning goodbye, a shared conversation during the day and a promise to reunite were the threads that wove their lives together.
On that fateful day, Friday, March 15, Bisaar, accustomed to his night shift routines, bade farewell to his wife as she embarked on her usual commute to Munyati Primary School, where she worked as an information and communication technology teacher.
Little did Bisaar know that was going to be their last exchange.
News of an accident on the Harare-Bulawayo highway, near Kwekwe, reached Bisaar at his workplace as he was preparing to begin his night shift.
He knew Everjoice used that very road.
A knot of unease tightened in his stomach. Frantic calls to her cellphone went unanswered. Each unanswered ring brought a hammer blow to his hope.
Finally, a stranger’s voice on the other side of the line asked him to come to the accident scene.
“When I arrived at work, the story of what had happened on the highway was the headline news among my colleagues,” he told The Sunday Mail last week.
“Knowing that my wife used the road on her way home nearly every day, I called her so that I could warn her about the accident.
“I kept on trying to call her and the phone was later answered by a police officer, who asked me to come to the scene.”
Bisaar duly rushed to the accident scene.
It all felt surreal when he saw the covered bodies. Then came the confirmation he dreaded — Everjoice was among the victims.
She had joined four colleagues in a vehicle owned by Tsungirirai Joe, a fellow educator at the school, on their way home.
“All the bodies were already in police vehicles,” he said. “My wife, Everjoice, was among them, gone forever. “The union to Everjoice was my second one. “She had embraced my son and created a bond that transcended stepson and mother.”
All the five teachers who were travelling in the Toyota Aqua died on the spot after the vehicle collided head-on with a truck.
The accident was not just a personal tragedy for Bisaar and the other families; it left a big gap at Munyati Primary School.
Five teachers from the institution were lost: Everjoice; Mitchell Maticha (22), a young woman who was her mother’s pillar of strength; Sithabile Nothando Moyo (33); Lesley Mugwidi (29); and Tsungirirai Joe (57), all leaving behind grieving families and learners who looked up to them.
The accident cast a dark cloud over the school. Yet, amid the grief, there was also a sense of community, of shared sorrow and support.
Mitchell’s mother, Ms Eileen Mandonga, spoke of her daughter’s bright light extinguished far too soon.
As the last-born child and only daughter, Mitchell was very close to her mother.
“She was very close to me because we were staying together, as her brothers stay in South Africa. “She was a responsible child, and we were helping each other to build a better life. “Even financially, she contributed a lot. “She was a happy character all the time and right now I’m thinking of how I am going to survive and take care of my granddaughter, whom she left behind,” said Ms Mandonga.
The school’s deputy headmaster, Mr Maxwell Mukumba, described the close bond he shared with his staff.
“From an administration point of view, teachers usually interact with the deputy head when they have grievances so that I can liaise with the headmaster or school development committee.
“So, because of that, a strong relationship develops between the teachers and the deputy head.
“The late teachers were more of my children,” said Mr Mukumba.
“In their absence, the classrooms now echo with a hollow silence,” he added.
Before the accident, the school had a staff complement of 30 teachers.
Mr Mukumba said on that fateful Friday, he stood by the school gate, waving goodbye to his colleagues, expecting to see them again on Monday.
Little did he know that the wave was a final farewell. A call from the police summoning him to a scene shattered his peace and will forever be etched in his memory.
At the accident scene, mangled metal and shattered dreams lay before him, signs of a day gone horribly wrong.
“I felt traumatised but at the same time, I had to be strong because I had to give information to the police,” he narrated.
The deceased, who were all buried last week, were afforded State-assisted funerals.
Munyati Primary School headmaster Mr Enias Shumba commended the Government for the support.
“It is a difficult moment not only for the families but for the school as well.
“We all know that schoolchildren spend more of their time at school than at home, so they tend to have a strong relationship with their teachers,” said Mr Shumba. “It’s a dark cloud that has fallen on the school.” The accident that claimed the lives of Munyati Primary School teachers was not an isolated tragedy.
It stands as a grim reminder of the silent epidemic plaguing Zimbabwe’s roads.
A total of 2 128 people died in road traffic accidents last year, up marginally from the previous year when 2 104 road fatalities were recorded.
Over the same period, there were 51 124 road accidents. The pain from the loss of the five Munyati Primary School teachers has extended far beyond the walls of their homes; it ripples through the hearts of young learners who now face the uncertainty of a future without their guiding lights.