By Nalisha Kalideen
Tragedy brought them together. For two years they met, first as strangers, but later as friends to discuss the inquest into the deaths of their children.
Over the years, these parents of the nine young computer experts who met a fiery death when their plane crashed have found comfort and strength in each other.
This emerged on Tuesday during interviews before and after the inquest into the events of December 1999.
In the Edenvale Regional Court, magistrate P J du Plessis found that negligence by Miles van der Molen, the owner of the Piper Chieftain, led to the death of the nine and their pilot.
Before Tuesday's proceedings, there was an easy sense of friendship between the parents.
Joe Speelman, who lost his son Moagi, 22, and Barbara Granelli, who lost daughter Nicola, 28, sat together discussing the change in the weather and the Granellis' trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town.
Earlier, Rick Granelli had been discussing with Speelman when the magistrate would appear to present his findings.
"There's has been a sense of comradeship (between the parents) for the past two years. We have been in touch constantly. The inquest has been able to bring us together, both spiritually and emotionally," Speelman said.
Contact with the other parents for the past two years had helped him to deal with the loss of his son.
"It sort of gives you the sense of reassurance that you are not all by yourself," Speelman said.
Heinz Dullaart, father of Helena Gouws who was present for all the inquest hearings, said the findings left him feeling that justice had been done.
"I personally think that justice was done. I think I'd be disappointed if there are no criminal cases after this," he said.
Rick Granelli said he was satisfied with the magistrate's findings.
"I think the evidence has been very extensively researched. The magistrate was very thorough in the handling of it all. I'm glad he had a lot of criticism for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)," Granelli said.
He said two families who were supported by their deceased children would sue Van der Molen.
"In one case, the girlfriend of Roger Minies was pregnant, and she is instituting action on behalf of her child. In the second case, Umarshnee Reddy was contributing to the care of her disabled brother," Granelli said.
Ivanna Granelli, owner of the Document Training International computer company, said that since the crash, she had worked to rebuild the company. The loss of nine of its 22 employees had caused the company to suffer severely.
"It was to a degree starting from the beginning. But it was much harder and very difficult because there wasn't that excitement of starting a new business. The staff we had had experienced a lot of trauma and we also had new people coming in, and they had to deal with that.
"Many of the old staff left," Granelli said.
She said that although it had been difficult to begin rebuilding her business, she had done it in memory of her sister Nicola and the others who had died.
"We had all worked very hard to build the company and had given quite a lot. I didn't want it to just die like they had," Granelli said.
She said the company now employed 30 people, although it did not do contracts overseas anymore.
At Tuesday's hearing, the magistrate said Van der Molen, the owner and chief executive officer of the now closed-down Flightline Charter Services, falsified test flight documents of the newly purchased Piper Chieftain. Van der Molen was also negligent in allowing the overloading of the aircraft.
The false documents led the CAA to give an airworthiness certificate for the aircraft.
The CAA report into the cause of the crash found that when Van der Molen had purchased the Piper Chieftain from the Democratic Republic of Congo, there were anomalies in the certification process of the plane in South Africa.
Du Plessis said Van der Molen had conducted a test flight on the plane even though he was not a certified test pilot.
He went on to say that although the data from the flight result was altered, the CAA had accepted the report and issued an airworthiness certificate for the plane.
The inquest also found that Van der Molen had added incorrect documentation to the pilots' handbook which stated that the plane could carry more weight than allowed.
The plane was about 360kg overweight at the time of the crash.
The inquest found that the company did not weigh the baggage of passengers.
The nine who perished were on their way to Namibia on assignment for De Beers.
The deceased were: Pilot Jan Dirk Heyns, Nicola Granelli, 28, Carl Struckman, 29, Annelie Buchner, 28, Annelize Benade, 26, Tracey Diehl, 28, Umarshnee Reddy, 26, Rodger Minies, 27, Moagi Speelman, 22, and Helena Gouws, 28, sister of The Star photographer Thys Dullaart.