Mrs Clester Ndlovu (26), her four-year-old son, Learnmore,
her sister Mrs Siziwe Nyathi (21) and her daughter, Thembelihle (2), were among
the 17 victims who died when a cylinder with unidentified toxic gas leaked.
The incident occurred on July 6 in Angelo’s Squatter Camp.
The victims were found within a 100m radius of the scene.
Preliminary investigations showed that the toxic gas was
used by illegal miners to extract what they thought to be gold from the soil.
The area has, for decades, been plagued by illegal mining, mostly for gold or
coal.
Johannesburg, commonly known as the city of gold, is home
to a labyrinth of abandoned mine shafts that stretch for hundreds of
kilometres.
Illegal gold miners mostly from Lesotho, Mozambique and
Zimbabwe, have taken over the abandoned shafts.
In a heart-breaking scene, relatives of the deceased wept
uncontrollably as the four coffins were being removed from the hearses. Many of
them were struggling to come to terms with the harsh reality of losing their
loved ones.
The four victims were buried at their rural homes in
Lushongwe Village in Gwanda on Saturday afternoon.
Mrs Ndlovu left behind two children aged three months and
eight years who survived the incident.
This was after their father Mr Patrick Ndlovu covered them
with a blanket which probably reduced the amount of the toxic gas they inhaled.
Mr Ndlovu was hospitalised for five days.
Mrs Ndlovu and her son were buried at her father’s
homestead while Mrs Nyathi and her daughter were interred at her maternal
grandmother’s homestead.
The family members and relatives first laid to rest Mrs
Ndlovu and her son before moving on to bury Mrs Nyathi and her daughter.
Narrating his ordeal, Mr Ndlovu said he arrived home
shortly after 6pm and found his wife gasping as she lay helplessly on the floor
while clutching onto their children.
“When I got home there was some noise as people wailed in
the area, and there was a foul smell coming from one of the shacks. People
seemed confused as they couldn’t comprehend what was happening,” he said.
“I found my wife and children lying on the floor, including
our three-month-old baby and the other two children aged four and eight years.
I took our three-month-old and placed her on the bed and covered her with a
blanket.”
Mr Ndlovu said he immediately directed his eight-year-old
son to lie on the bed before he also covered him with a blanket.
“I lost consciousness and the next thing I remember is
waking up on a hospital bed. I later learnt that my wife and our four-year-old
son died at the scene,” he said.
Mr Ndlovu’s cousin, Ms Siphokuhle Ncube said when she
arrived at the scene the following day, the poisonous gas was still in the air
although it had subsided.
She said they had to wear masks in order to move around the
area.
The grandfather to the two deceased women, Mr Zwelihle
Nyathi said it was painful for them to lose family members in such as tragic
incident.
“My two grandchildren were still young and now that they
are gone, we have, as a family, been left with a huge responsibility of looking
after their children. They have left a huge gap in our lives and as a family,
we are devastated,” he said.
Mr Nyathi said they were assisted by the Zimbabwean Embassy
in South Africa to repatriate the bodies.
Mr Nyathi’s nephew, Mr Ndabezinhle Ndlovu said they posted
on different social media platforms seeking assistance from well wishers.
“We got assistance from Kings and Queens Funeral Parlour
who offered their services at a discounted price. The Zimbabwe consulate in
Johannesburg also engaged us and assisted in covering repatriation costs
including facilitating the processing of relevant documents,” he said.
Zanu-PF candidate for Gwanda North Constituency, Cde
Lungisani Ncube said the local community assisted the bereaved family in
mobilising resources.
Cde Ncube said the intervention by Government also brought
the much-needed relief.
“We would like to thank Government under the leadership of
President Mnangagwa for the great support during this painful period. Families
usually struggle to repatriate bodies of their relatives from South Africa but
in this case, everything was done timeously,” he said.
The horrific incident occurred when gas leaked from a
cylinder that was being drained by a group of illegal miners, who wanted to cut
it open and use the gas to process gold. According to South African media
reports and witnesses, the gas bottle which leaked was stolen from a local
company in the area. Chronicle
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