Accident in Madombidzha claims life of man

This week has been one of tears and sadness for the Murulane family of Madodonga. On Saturday, the 33-year-old Phathutshedzo Murulane died in a car accident on the D3715 road between Madombidzha and Tshiozwi. His vehicle collided head-on with that of the former municipal manager of the Vhembe District Municipality, Reuben Rambado.

The roads in the Sinthumule and Kutama area are considered to be very dangerous, with potholes and stray animals ever present. In the past few months, four people had lost their lives on the same stretch of road that claimed the life of Mr Murulane.

Exactly what had caused Saturday’s accident is not certain. From what could be established, Murulane’s car collided head-on with the vehicle of Rambado, after which Rambado’s vehicle overturned. The car in which Murulane was driving was coming from the direction of Tshiozwi. Members of the traffic police and paramedics rushed to the scene and the injured were taken to hospital for treatment. The road was closed for almost three hours, following the accident.

Rambado was first rushed to Louis Trichardt for treatment and then transferred to Polokwane. He was discharged from hospital on Tuesday.

Mr Fagenth Murulane, spokesperson for the Murulane family, said that they were still in shock. “Only God who knows why it happened like this. It is very painful to lose people like this,” he said. The untimely death of Phathutshedzo did not only shock the community, but his friends and family members also. “We have received many messages of condolences, and it shows us that Phathutshedzo was a people’s person and accommodating to everyone, irrespective of colour, race or religion,” he said.

Vhamusanda Vho-Ntanganedzeni Kutama expressed his condolences to the affected family. He added that the community members around the Kutama area were deeply touched, especially as the victim was still so young.

“The family members of the victim need our support in hard times like these, and we hope accidents of this nature, which can be prevented, will never again take place on our roads,” he said. Kutama urged members of the community to drive responsibly and always obey the speed limit. He appealed to all drivers to be careful when they use the D3715 road, because it has lots of potholes.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said that the police were investigating a case of reckless, negligent driving and culpable homicide.

Murulane said that the funeral service would be held at Madodonga, starting at 06:00 on Saturday morning.

Date:07 December 2019

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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