via Funeral parlour boss speaks out on SA mine disaster | SW Radio Africa by Nomalanga Moyo on Thursday, March 6, 2014
As friends and families of 22 of the 23 Zimbabweans who perished in a disused mine in South Africa prepare to accompany the bodies home, an official at the funeral parlour that is handling the repatriations has spoken out.
Roy Ncube, the chairman of Johannesburg-based Queens and Kings Funeral Parlour, says handling the 23 bodies of his fellow countrymen has been a very emotional and painful experience.
The family of the 23rd dead miner collected his body last week.
“These were young people, they must have been aged 30 years and below, judging by the pictures that were brought by their loved ones for the memorial service Wednesday,” Ncube told SW Radio Africa’s Big Picture programme.
According to Ncube, colleagues of the deceased sent out a distress call to the funeral parlour and appealed for food and blankets before the scale of the disaster became known.
He thanked SA-based fellow Zimbabweans for their contributions.
“But the real heroes in all this are the brave young people who sacrificed their lives trying to rescue their trapped friends,” Ncube said.
There are reports that the Zimbabwean miners unwittingly exposed themselves to deadly gas in a bid to evade arrest by the South African police force. It’s believed the deceased were all known to each other and lived in areas bordering the Roodepoort mine. South African police were reportedly waiting for the miners to emerge from the shaft to arrest them, as they had no proper documentation to live in South Africa.
The businessman said the tragedy should be a message to the South African government to recognise that ‘illegal’ foreigners had the potential to contribute positively to the country’s economy and regularise their stay in the country.
“This will also ensure that they operate legally and in a safe way. The South African government estimates that there are 16,000 illegal miners in the country and the lives of all these people will remain at risk unless something is done,” Ncube added.
The funeral procession is expected to arrive in Bulawayo this weekend where a mass memorial service is planned, before bodies are ferried to different parts of Matebeleland and the Midlands for burial.
Kings and Queens Funeral Parlour provided the coffins and handled the storage and preparation of the bodies ahead of the repatriation. Other groups have also donated towards the funeral expenses.
“This is our 10th year in operation, and when we first started our aim was to afford our compatriots the dignity they deserve both after their death and while mourning the loss of their loved ones. We have stuck to that founding principle,” Ncube added.
COMMENTS
Rest in peace
Thanks to Queens and kings
Where is cde Mugabe a man of the people and his party, Zanu pf, which represents the aspirations of the people?
Siyabonga Ncube labanye bakho. UNkulunkulu uYise weNkosi yethu uJesu Kristu alengenzelele umusa lothando. Angathi uMthwakazi angafunda isifundo ngozwelo lothando lwenu. Aze afunde njao iqiniso ngenhlanganiso yezombangazwe ekhuluma iqiniso imele abantu.
HAD THEY BEEN FROM RIGHT PART OF THE COUNTRY, THE GOVERNMENT WOULD ASSISTED WITH FUNERAL EXPENSES! BUT THEN THEY NOT! THANK YOU K and Q! TOBOKA TJOSELLE!
“HAVE”
Dying in foreign lands, risking life…and limp trying to earn a living not just for self but even for those back at home so they can eat, clothe, shelter, go to school etc…while they party with no care, spending 7 million dollars on silly parties and weddings while countrymen suffer like this. If that was not enough, they continue scheming in silliness to spend even more on simple statues of an old cold and careless rag of a president, with no shame whatsoever!
Mugabe needs to be shot dead. PERIOD!
May their soul RIP.