CRASH: Mom speaks on six dead relatives

A mother who lost six family members in a horror N3 highway crash that claimed 17 lives has told of her heartache after learning about the tragedy days after struggling to contact them.  

Uzengane Sigubudu lost her 45-year-old daughter Lindeni, her four grandchildren and her son-in-law during the accident on Van Reenen's Pass in KZN. Her one-year-old great-grandchild Luyanda was the sole survivor of the accident between a taxi and a truck. 

Expressing her pain, Sigubudu said: "I'm shuttered. This is unbelievable. I don't even have the strength to go to the accident scene. My daughter will head to the hospital to visit Luyanda."

She said throughout the December holidays she had been struggling to get hold of her daughter.

"The last time I spoke to her was when she was telling me that she would be leaving for Eastern Cape as they would usually go during holidays," Sigubudu told Sowetan from her home in Nquthu, KwaZulu-Natal.

Lindeni died with her partner Sihle Magoda and their children Sfanelesbonge, Fanelesbonge, Bongiswa  and Vuyiswa. 

The family was heading back to their home in Gauteng after spending their festive holidays in Qumbu, Eastern Cape.

"I last saw Lindeni in September when she visited me from Gauteng. The last time I spoke to her was in December just before the left for the Eastern Cape. We spoke about the trip because its a thing they do every December. Whenever she is in the Eastern Cape she struggles with cellphone network," explained Sigubudu.

She said she was not aware of the accident until government officials called her on Wednesday afternoon.

"They told me that people have died and that my children was also involved. They also came to my house to give me more details," said Sigubudu. 

According to KwaZulu-Natal authorities, the accident occurred when a minibus taxi lost control, swerved towards the right oncoming lane and collided with a truck head-on.

On Thursday, KZN MEC for transport and human settlements Siboniso Duma announced that they had managed to trace Luyanda's family to Tembisa in Ekurhuleni. Luyanda, the only survivor, was kept at a hospital in KZN while her family was being sought.

When Sowetan interviewed Sigubudu Thursday, she said her other daughter had gone to the accident scene and later went to mortuary to identify the deceased.

Luyanda's mother, Nqobile, 19, would be reunited with her child later in the week, said the family.

Nqobile's uncle Fundakwezakhe Sigubudu said it was by Grace of God that his niece did not join the trip to the Eastern Cape.

"The family drove from Tembisa and dropped Nqobile off in Johannesburg where she was to look after a property over the festive season and they took her child [Luyanda] along for the trip. It's a blessing that she did not go. We are grateful for that," said Fundakwezakhe on Thursday.

He said the family was not coping with the tragedy.

"It feels like we are back to Covid times because you hardly get a family that loses so many members in one car crash. People have been coming to send their condolences and just don't know how to explain what has happened to them,"  he said.

He said Nqobile, who is also awaiting her matric results, was struggling to sleep and that her focus now was to move forward and get through the tragedy. 

"She is not coping, and she has mood swings... she's not even thinking about the pending matric results right now," he said.

He added that government officials have visited the family home in KZN and spoke about assisting the family with the burial.

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