Fund launched to cover costs of bus victims’ funerals in Franschhoek

Relief money would also extend to the 30 injured passengers

FACED with arranging the funerals of two players and a supporter killed in Saturday’s bus crash, the Franschhoek Rugby Club will get financial relief from the Franschhoek Rugby Disaster Relief Fund launched yesterday by the Western Province Rugby Football Union (WPRFU).

Union president Thelo Wakefield said the WPRFU was committed to providing the utmost level of support to the club, and families of the deceased and injured – many of whom did not have money for medical bills.

The fund will pay for Saturday’s joint funeral service of Russel Riffel, 23, Denzil Bonzaaier, 19, and Adam Leibrandt, 62.

The chairman of Franschhoek’s sports council, Eddie Cloete, said the finances from the relief fund would also extend to the 30 injured passengers, many of whom were sole breadwinners.

Bonzaaier brought in the bulk of the income that fed his two younger brothers and parents. His mother, a domestic worker, was now the only breadwinner and told club management she could not pay for his funeral on her own.

Riffel, too, was raised in a singleparent home and was the main source of income for his one-monthold baby.

Leibrandt lived off a pension with his sister, who would also not be able to afford the cost of his funeral.

Cloete said most of the club’s players and their families lived in RDP houses and those who couldn’t afford their own rugby uniform often shared kit with teammates.

“We cannot afford a physiotherapist for our boys and because most of them don’t have medical aid, the club often paid for their trips to the doctor when they were injured.”

The club received funds from spectators who paid the R5 entry fee to watch a game. But because most of the community in the Groendal area were farmworkers, club members often had to dig into their own pockets to pay for transport when they played outside Franschhoek.

● Bank details of the Franschhoek Rugby Disaster Relief Fund for anyone who wants to assist are: Franschhoek Rugby Disaster Relief Fund, Standard Bank, Account number: 071411097, Branch code: 025009.