Like any mother, Priscilla Phoswa always thought her children would bury her. However, the Moroka North mother-of-four is preparing to bury her second child after she was electrocuted in a freak accident at Avalon cemetery at the weekend.
Her son died in a hail of bullets three years ago. On Sunday, her daughter Brenda, 27, was electrocuted while trying to locate the grave of her father at the Soweto cemetery.
A staunch ZCC member, Brenda had visited the graves of other relatives and was looking for her father’s grave when a bakkie carrying tents and chairs dragged down a sagging live electricity wire which made contact with her, burning her beyond recognition.
Brenda’s distraught mother told The Star she was devastated by the death of her loving daughter, herself a mother of two children, aged two and four. “Why me? Why are my kids leaving me?” she said before breaking down in tears.
Phoswa said she had made arrangements with her daughter on Saturday night to visit their relatives’ graves the following morning.
“On that (Saturday) night she looked extremely happy. She was laughing and sharing jokes with the rest of the family. On Sunday morning she looked a bit down and was very quiet. I was ready and prepared to leave when I realised she had left just after 6am. Who knows, maybe we could have both died, as we always went together to the graves,” she said.
Phoswa said she was pained by her grandchildren, who constantly questioned her about their mother’s whereabouts.
“I don’t know how to explain their mother’s death. They are still young. At first I told them she was in hospital, but they keep asking when she will return home,” she said.
She said Brenda’s youngest child, aged two, was still being breastfed and was constantly crying.
According to Joburg City Parks, a vehicle carrying stacked chairs had dragged a sagging, storm-damaged powerline, which collapsed on a visitor and fatally wounded her.
Spokeswoman Jenny Moodley said she could not give further details as the case was being investigated by the police.
“Johannesburg City Parks immediately called the police, and a pathologist was on the scene of the incident. Unfortunately, the body of the deceased was scorched around the abdomen due to the high voltage of the pylon. A chaplain was requested to assist the family,” she said.
Kliptown police spokeswoman Captain Nondumiso Mpantsha said an inquest docket had been opened.
Brenda will be buried at the weekend. - The Star