Dr. Phophi Ramathuba, the Health MEC of Limpopo, has made a compassionate visit to South African citizens hospitalised in Botswana after a tragic road accident, which claimed the lives of at least seven South Africans in the neighboring country.
South Africa crash victims hospitalised in Botswana
Last week, the accident occurred following a gathering of South Africans in Gauteng who had embarked on a minibus journey to Botswana for a church service.
According to the Botswana Police Service (BPS), the tragedy took place in the southern district of Ranaka village, approximately 77 kilometers away from Gaborone.
The incident involved a Range Rover SUV with four occupants from Botswana and a Toyota minibus carrying 15 South African passengers.
According to IOL, Dr. Phophi Ramathuba, the Health MEC of Limpopo, journeyed to Botswana to stand in for the South African government at the collective funeral for 45 Botswana individuals who tragically perished in a bus accident in Limpopo over the Easter Weekend.\
During her trip, she also took the chance to visit South African nationals receiving medical care in Botswana.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Ramathuba revealed that the South African victims had tragically passed away while returning home following a church conference on the preceding Tuesday.
“The report that we received from our High Commissioner Shope (Thaninga Shope-Soumah) who is with us here is that there were South Africans who were attending a church conference here in Botswana. Unfortunately on their way back, they were involved in an accident between an SUV and their kombi that they were travelling. They were 15 including the driver,” Ramathuba told Newzroom Afrika.
“It is unfortunate that seven of them died, and there are those who survived. As a country we have lost seven lives, four were admitted – two in another hospital.”
The individuals involved in the accident were affiliated with the St. John Apostolic church.
Ramathuba expressed her desire to ensure that the hospitalised South Africans in Botswana received proper care and support, aiming to uplift their spirits during their recovery.
Autopsies have been conducted on the deceased South Africans, and the findings have been forwarded to the South African Police Service (SAPS).
Botswana lays to rest 44 victims of fatal South African bus crash
On Saturday, at least 44 individuals who lost their lives in a tragic bus accident over the Easter weekend in South Africa were laid to rest in the neighboring country of Botswana.
According to Voice of America, Nearly a month after the devastating bus crash, approximately 5,000 mourners dressed in black assembled in the Botswana village of Molepolole to bid farewell to the victims.
The accident had tragically claimed the lives of all passengers on board, with the exception of a lone 8-year-old child.
The bus driver, Ogaufi Noonyane, was laid to rest in a separate ceremony held in the village of Thamaga, approximately 40 kilometers from the main burial site.
The individuals involved in the accident were en route to an Easter pilgrimage organized by the Zion Christian Church, a prominent religious institution in southern Africa.
Their journey was tragically interrupted when their bus veered off a bridge near Mokopane village in Limpopo, South Africa, plunging approximately 50 meters.
This incident starkly underscored the heightened risks on South Africa’s roads during the Easter season, a time when millions of people traverse the country during the extended holiday period.
The mass funeral followed the repatriation of the victims’ remains to their home country of Botswana.
“We stand here with devastated hearts,” said Limpopo provincial minister of health Phophi Ramathuba, who was among the South African dignitaries who attended the funeral.
