AIRFORCE of Zimbabwe Officer Cadet Silungile Sweswe, who passed away when a SF 260 Genet trainer aircraft crashed on Tuesday afternoon last week, received an emotional farewell as family, friends and colleagues came together to mourn an aspiring pilot whose life was taken as she was on the cusp of fulfilling the abundant promise she showed.
Silungile (23), a resident of Pumula South in Bulawayo, was
buried at Umvutshwa Private Cemetery on Friday. Silungile died on the spot
alongside flying instructor, Squadron Leader Mkhululi Dube after their plane,
which was making a U-turn according to witnesses, crashed just outside Gweru in
Somabhula. The two were on routine training from Josiah Tungamirai Airbase.
Speaking to the Sunday News after the burial, Silungile’s
uncle Mr Kholisani Sweswe described her as a prayerful child who was
intelligent and self driven.
“She was just someone that was naturally intelligent and
academically no one would ever fault. She went to Dumezweni Primary School here
in Pumula South and then proceeded to Pumula High School that is where she was
until she finished her A Level. From there she went to work for World Vision
for a while before joining the Airforce.
One thing that I can say about her is that she was someone
dedicated to our whole family. It did not matter if you were an uncle, an aunt
or any other relative, she respected and cared for you equally,” he said.
Mr Sweswe described the tragic circumstances that the
family had received news of Silungile’s passing on, saying they first became
aware of her death after pictures of the mangled a SF 260 Genet trainer
aircraft started making the rounds on social media.
“We did not know because we were yet to get an official
report and that came on Wednesday morning. But social media had already
delivered the news to us because we had already started seeing pictures of the
plane. From there onwards we were really treated very well by the Airforce and
they helped the family throughout the whole grieving process. We never saw the
plane that took her life because it had been moved by the time we got there,”
he said.
Mr Sweswe said the death of Silungile was a bitter pill to
swallow for the family, as she was someone, they had pinned their hopes on for
the future given her intelligence.
“She was supposed to go for her Pass-out and graduation
parade this November but that had been pushed to April because this has been a
difficult year. She had asked the family to slaughter a bull specifically for
that day. It is really hard to take because when you raise a child and educate
her, you’re hoping that she will help elevate the family. Unfortunately, no one
can ever know when the Lord will take what is his,” he said.
Mr Sweswe said Silungile had always harboured thoughts of
taking her whole family into the sky.
“She always said that she would one day make sure that all
of us in the family had a ride on an airplane. That was what she kept saying.
From the time when she was young, she looked up to her grandfather who is also
a pilot,” he said.
Another uncle, Mr Mengezi Sweswe Mpofu, told Sunday News
that Silungile was an ardent Seventh Day Adventist who was a shining example to
other girls in the community.
“She was the president of the Junior Cadets and she was
about to achieve her ambition of becoming a pilot. She was a Seventh Day
Adventist through and through and over the years she had been to all church
groups. We saw her grow from being a young pathfinder into a young woman that
continued to live by the word of God,” he said.
One of Silungile’s peers from Pumula South, Ms Melissa Dube
said the late trainee pilot had been a consistent source of inspiration for
young women in their community.
“She was someone that was so driven and dedicated and it is
so painful to see that she has been taken away when she still had a lot more to
offer. For young women in this community she was a beacon of hope,” she said.
At her funeral, many young women from both the Airforce and
the community in Pumula South wore t-shirts emblazoned with her face, with the
hashtag #FlyGirl accompanying the image. The third born in a family of six
girls, Silungile always believed she should break new ground for women in aviation.
“…You just had to go in such a horrifying manner…I don’t
know whether to say it’s awesome or it’s sad that you died doing what you loved
the most but its super sad that you’re gone…This is not how you were supposed
to make news, you always wanted to break bounds in Aviation and be the first
female something great…” a friend, Tshepiso Ndebele, wrote on Facebook in a
farewell. Sunday News
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