Four young lives lost in gruesome accident

Date: 15 January 2010 By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Death dealt a cruel blow to four Limpopo families when the lives of four promising students were taken away in a gruesome accident.
The four, Blondie Gija, Penelope Mgijima, Dorothy Selowa and Mihloti Tears Khosa of Salema outside Malamulele, all members of the Salema AFM Church’s worshipping team and all aged 20, met their untimely death on their way to perform at a wedding at Mphambo Village, a few kilometres from their own village. Their death came at a time when people were celebrating the dawn of the much-awaited 2010 and some of their peers were starting to prepare for the new schooling season.
News of their deaths spread like wildfire, plunging the whole community into deep mourning.
All, except for Dorothy Selowa, were buried during a mass funeral held at Salema All Stars grounds on Saturday morning. Selowa was buried the previous day.
Gija, Selowa and Khosa were pupils at Jim Chabane High School at Shikundu, while Mgijima was in her second year of psychology studies at Wits University.
Emotions ran high during the funeral, with many learners collapsing, fainting and weeping uncontrollably.
Addressing the mourners, Limpopo ANC Youth League president and MP in the provincial legislature Mr Lehlogonolo Masoga made a call for the protection of people, especially the young, on the public roads. More than 5 000 people attended the mass funeral service at the Salema All Star grounds.
“While the ANC is celebrating its 98th anniversary and South Africans are looking forward to hosting the first Fifa World Cup on African soil, we cannot afford to lose young lives in such a senseless way,” said Masoga.
Music megastar Thomas Hasani Chauke, who represented the Mgijima family, said the family had not lost an ordinary child. Chief John Shikundu had his own trademark slogan: “Ndzi ta sala ndzi fuma matluka.” (It means “now that people are dying, he will rule over leaves of trees”).
The chief said the church should in future not allow kids to use bakkies to parties.
At the graveyard, there was more weeping than singing and the programme director had to make a plea that it should be the other way round.
Pastor Albert Masingi, who represented the church, said the highly religious young girls had gone to various weddings, funerals and parties to sing in the past. “This was supposed to be their 25th public appearance and that was not to be,” said the pastor. He said after it happened, the church was concerned as they were its members and had gone to their families for prayers.
Meanwhile, the Limpopo Department of Roads and Transport spokesperson, Wisani Baloyi, said there had been a decline in the number of accidents, compared to the previous year. He said from the period of 1 December 2009 to 3 January 2010, 153 were killed on the province´s roads, 63 being passengers, 43 pedestrians, 46 drivers and 1 cyclist. During the same time last year, 189 were killed.
Fatalities as per district were as follows:
Capricorn 34, and last year 36; Sekhukhune 20, and last year 35; Mopani 14, and last year 17; Vhembe 48 and last year 45 and Waterberg 37, and last year 56.

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Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019. He currently writes on a freelance basis, covering human rights issues, court news and entertainment.