31 Aug 2022

Having declared the July 21 road accident which claimed 16 lives a national disaster, government  has presented victims’ families with P160 000.

Handing over the cheque in Maitengwe Tuesday, Minister for State President Mr Kabo Morwaeng  said the amount was to be shared equally among the eight bereaved families of Tutume Sub-district whose loved ones perished in the horrific accident.

Minister Morwaeng said news of the crash left the nation in a state of deep shock and sadness.

He said for that reason President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi declared the accident a national disaster.

Not only were the affected  families devastated but the nation as whole, Mr Morwaeng  said adding that the President had then promised that government would consider financial support for the bereaved families.

He said it was in accordance with Setswana culture of supporting the bereaved that government saw it fit to extend financial assistance to the eight families.

The minister said although the funds could have been better used to cover funeral expenses, government still felt the need to offer a helping hand to assure the bereaved that ‘you are not alone in mourning, the nation mourns with you’.

He said, “Such massive loss of life in our country in a single accident  is uncommon and always leaves untold pains and suffering not only for the affected families but for the nation at large”.

Noting that the pain from such losses lingered for a long time, Minister Morwaeng called upon the community and the nation to extend support to the grieving families including praying for them.

A village elder, Mr Edwin Batshu, said it was still hard for the community to come to terms with the loss of so many people at once.

However, he said through the support they got and continued to get from government, they were coping. 

Mr Batshu said the community was continuing with prayers for three accident victims still hospitalised at Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital in Francistown. 

Fourteen others, among them a seven-month-old baby boy who lost his father in the accident, had been discharged, he said. 

Mr Batshu appealed to government to consider erecting a monument at the scene of the accident in remembrance of the tragedy and as a way of paying tribute to the victims.

In his welcome remarks, Kgosi Shadrach Mphala-Mengwe of Maitengwe requested the police to release the findings of their investigations into the cause of the accident.

He further asked for the control of sensitive information dissemination on social media platforms. 

Kgosi Mphala-Mengwe said parents to some of the accident victims, who had been expecting them, were traumatised by seeing pictures of their children’s mangled bodies on social media before being notified by relevant authorities. 

He called on government to take action against people who published graphic pictures of accidents on social media. 

The handing over ceremony was attended by families from Kutamogoree, Nata, Nkange, Tutume and Maitengwe as well as their dikgosi. Ends