Eastern Cape Premier, Noxolo Kiviet went to support a Joza family on Wednesday after seven members of the family were killed in an accident.
Eastern Cape Premier, Noxolo Kiviet went to support a Joza family on Wednesday after seven members of the family were killed in an accident.
Kiviet was in Port Elizabeth for her rural development pilot project when she asked to be driven to Grahamstown to mourn with the Hanises at their home in Joza.
Accompanied by Bhisho officials, Kiviet attended the church service where she sang, prayed and consoled the grief-stricken family.
The family, which consisted of Totosi Hanise (73), his daughter-in-law Thembisa (39), Thembisa’s 56-year-old mother and Thembisa’s four sons, were all killed in a head-on collision near Cape Town last Tuesday. The sons were 20-month-old Mika, Feza (7) and 13-year-old twins Babalo and Zukisa.
The accident happened two days after the family buried Totosi’s son Zinyusile in Grahamstown on 2 August. They were leaving Grahamstown for Cape Town when the car collided head-on with an oncoming taxi after Totosi tried to overtake a truck.
The family is still trying to come to terms with the tragedy.
“When a family is wiped out like this, it’s a tragedy one cannot explain,” said Vuyani Buwa, a member of the family.
Officials support
Kiviet and other government officials from KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape joined the family in mourning. More government officials from the Parliament in Cape Town, where Thembisa worked, are expected to arrive in Grahamstown.
Makana Mayor, Vumile Lwana, and municipal officials accompanied Kiviet.
Kiviet addressed the bereaved family members for about an hour in the family’s bedroom. She encouraged family members to seek strength from God, saying that it was God’s decision to take the deceased and that He should not be blamed for his decision.
She said: “We are here to tell you that we are also in grief, this is a wound to us too. We are crying with you.”
She said this incident left her speechless. “Ubuchule nobuciko bulahlekile (I have run out of the right words to say). Death happens but this one is shocking,” said Kiviet.
Aim to care
The premier explained that the decision to support the family came from the ANC’s pledge to service the community.
“We are taught by the ruling party to be caring at all times. So we had to come and help this family,” she said.
Kiviet had heard about the incident a few days earlier and had decided to fit in a visit to the family into her schedule.
She could not explain how else the government would support the family but said, “We have met the family halfway.”
Buwa said that the premier’s visit was a “big thing and showed that she is a caring person who cares for the people she leads”.
He said that the family appreciated the fact that Kiviet came to Grahamstown despite her busy schedule.
The funeral service of six of the deceased will take place at Indoor Sports Centre in Joza on Sunday, from 9am. Thembisa’s mother will be laid to rest in Stutterheim.
