‘She loved life’

REUTERS

Johannesburg - The family of a Soweto girl struck and killed by lighting have described her as a good, quiet person who had never raised her voice to anyone.

Bertha Ncube, 16, died of her injuries at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on Friday afternoon. She was struck on Monday.

Ncube was one of the four Protea Glen Secondary School girls, all aged 16, who were struck by lighting on their way home from school.

She was admitted to the hospital with two other girls who were treated and discharged.

The dead girl’s uncle Innocent Ncube told the Saturday Star last night his niece was a loving person and very quiet. He said her mother had been admitted to the hospital for shock. “We as a family are very sad. We have not yet discussed funeral arrangements because her mother is still in hospital. But she (Bertha) will be missed very much,” he said.

Bertha’s father, Cowden Ncube, said his daughter was a lovely person.

“She loved life. She always told me that she wanted to be a lawyer when she finished school,” Coweden said.

He had last seen his daughter alive on Monday morning before school. Bertha was one of six children.

Department of Education spokesman Charles Phahlane said he could not confirm the department’s assistance to the family as they had not yet indicated what the funeral arrangements were.

On Tuesday, lightning struck nine boys, aged between 16 and 18, at King Edward VII School while they were pulling the covers over the cricket pitch.

Phahlane said two King Edward boys were still at Milpark Hospital. One of the boys was in a critical, but stable condition. The other boy had been moved from the intensive care unit to the high care unit.

Saturday Star