Durban - Skhumbuzo Mtshali raced across busy Dumisani Makhaye Drive in KwaMashu, Durban, in peak-hour traffic, trying to get home for help from his granny.
He had been walking to school with his sister, 14-year-old Ayanda Mtshali, on Wednesday morning when a speeding taxi came out of nowhere and hit her and three friends.
Sitting on a blanket at his home, alongside his mother and other family, friends and neighbours who had gathered to mourn, he said the last thing he remembered about his sister was how she struggled to get out her last words.
“I walked with my sister every day to school. That day of the incident I was walking behind them.
“Everything happened so fast, but I remember her laying on the ground. I ran to her and stood next to her looking down on her. She was trying to tell me something but the words didn’t come out.
“While I was trying to listen harder to hear what she was saying, someone behind me said to go and call for help. I was scared but I ran straight to call my granny to come and help,” said the Grade 6 pupil at Roseland Primary School in Newlands East.
His sister, along with Tina Ngiba, 13, and Luyanda Ngubane, 14, died when a minibus taxi crashed into them at the intersection of Inanda Road and Dumisani Makhaye Drive.
Pretty Ngubane, mom of Bongeka, 14, said her daughter was out of ICU.
“She is able to speak a little, but needs to rest right now. We are happy she is recovering.”
Skumbuzo said: “I still feel sad. We used to play together, and fight sometimes, but she was my sister.
“We used to talk about the future and she would tell me she wanted to be an electrical engineer and I want to be a pilot.
“There used to be four of us brothers and sisters, now there are only three of us. I will never forget the last time I saw her,” he said.
His father, Thulani Mtshali, said he had been at work when he received the news of his daughter’s death.
“I received a call from someone opposite my house.
“It was strange because I don’t receive calls when I’m at work. They told me there has been an accident and it involved my daughter.
“I immediately had a feeling, and asked if my daughter was okay. They didn’t answer, they just started crying.
“It was a horrifying thing to see my child like that (in the mortuary).
“I was still watching her growing and making us proud.”
“My son can’t sleep at night, he gets nightmares and I feel so bad because I don’t know what to do to make him feel better. He is okay during the day, the problem is at night.
“He has not received any counselling and for now we are just dealing with what we can, and trying to get my daughter to be buried back home in Empangeni, where we come from. The Road Accident Fund said they will be helping us with transporting the body. At this moment I will accept any help I can get, having a dignified burial for my child is the priority,” said Mtshali.
Ayanda’s mother, Xolile, was inconsolable and not able to speak, but the teenager’s granny, Sylvan, said: “Ayanda was very respectful and she would do everything she was told to do. She looked after her brother every morning when they were going to school. It is really a hard time for this family, and Ayanda’s mother has not eaten a proper meal since. She has not spoken to anyone and taken out what is inside (her). We are in pain as family but it is worse for her.
“As you can see by the looks of the house this child grew up in, we do not have much. These children walk to school because we cannot afford transport for them and they are very clever kids.”
Ayanda’s funeral is expected to be arranged with the assistance of the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department.
KZN Education MEC Mthandeni Dlungwane arrived at the families’ homes to pay his respects.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we are meeting with the school and the families. Our relevant departments, together with the RAF, will be assisting the families with burial and counselling.
“A memorial service for the pupils will be held on Wednesday at their school, Newlands East Secondary.”
Principal Paul Ndlovu said teachers and pupils were in mourning.
“Teachers form a bond with their pupils. It is hard for them to handle this. We are doing the best we can for the pupils at school who lost three of their friends at once,” he said.
Meanwhile, 32-year-old taxi driver Siboniso Zwane appeared in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court on charges of culpable homicide as well as reckless and negligent driving.
He will make a formal bail application on March 13, and in court stated he feared for his safety.