Four mourners were killed in a head-on collision near Ingezi Township after leaving Rimuka Cemetery, where they had attended the burial of a local resident, Girly Mashiri.
The victims were travelling in a Honda Fit when it collided with a Double Cab near a service station along the Harare-Bulawayo highway. The crash has left families in Kadoma facing a second funeral within a short period, while the city’s sporting community mourns the loss of three netball players who represented different local teams.
Fungai Dzomba, Mitchel Kanogwere, 27, Elizabeth Chavhunguma, 39, and Chenesai Chaitezvi, 26, are reported to have been in the Honda Fit when the collision occurred. Three of them died at the scene. Chenesai later succumbed to injuries at Kadoma General Hospital.
The woman who was reportedly driving the Honda Fit was injured. Her whereabouts could not be established at the time of publication, according to the account supplied to this newspaper. The circumstances that led to the collision, including the speed of the vehicles, the position of the cars on the highway and the condition of the road, had not been publicly established.
Assistant Inspector Cry Muriro, the Zimbabwe Republic Police spokesperson for Kadoma district, confirmed the fatal accident. A full police investigation will be needed to establish how the two vehicles came to collide and whether any traffic offence, mechanical failure or road condition contributed to the crash.
The tragedy unfolded against the backdrop of a burial. The four mourners had travelled from Rimuka Cemetery after paying their respects to Mashiri. Instead of returning home together, their families were left waiting for news from hospitals and police officers before learning that the journey had ended in another loss.
For the relatives, the pain is made more difficult by the suddenness of the deaths. There was no indication in the supplied account that the mourners had expected danger on the short journey from the cemetery. Their deaths demonstrate how quickly an ordinary trip can become a fatal event on one of Zimbabwe’s busy highways, particularly when vehicles meet at high speed or when there is little room to avoid an approaching car.
Mitchel Kanogwere’s uncle, who lives in Chegutu, said the family was trying to accept what had happened while thinking about the child she left behind.
“We accept what has befallen us. We look forward to God’s guidance in all that we will do. My niece has left a 5-year-old child.”
The statement points to one of the consequences of a fatal crash that is not always visible at the scene: the children, parents and dependants who must rebuild their lives after a breadwinner or caregiver is suddenly gone. In Kanogwere’s case, the family is also facing the responsibility of supporting a 5-year-old child who has lost a mother.
Elizabeth Chavhunguma’s father was struggling to come to terms with the death of his daughter. He described her as sociable and said she had followed the character of her grandmother, whose name she carried.
“It’s something we did not expect. While its a part of life, we can never plan for a funeral. “The Almighty has made his choice. We accept it but we were never expecting it.“We gave her our mother’s name, and by her character she was following in the shoes of her grandmother. She was a very sociable person.”
Chenesai’s elder sister, Beverly, said the family was still struggling to understand the tragedy.
“We are touched by what befell us as a family, we are failing to come to terms with what we face at the moment.”
The losses have also been felt beyond the victims’ homes. Three of the deceased were netball players who played for various teams in Kadoma. Their deaths have therefore affected teammates, coaches and supporters who knew them not only as relatives and friends, but also as athletes who took part in the city’s sporting life.
Kadoma Ward 1 councillor James Maluso said the local authority had pledged to assist the bereaved families. His remarks referred specifically to the provision of graves at Rimuka Cemetery, where the mourners had attended Mashiri’s burial before the crash.
“I’m at a loss of words on this incident. We are saddened as a city, especially the community in Ngezi Township.“City of Kadoma has pledged to assist all the bereaved families with free graves at Rimuka Cemetery.”
The council’s offer is practical assistance at a time when several families may be dealing with funeral costs at once. It also underlines the unusual and painful sequence of events: a place visited for one burial became part of the arrangements for four more deaths.
The crash near Ingezi Township is not an isolated reminder of the dangers faced by people using Zimbabwe’s roads. One pedestrian was killed and 22 passengers were injured on the Chinhoyi-Chegutu Road after a Howo truck swerved while trying to avoid a Honda Fit and a Toyota Hiace that had already been involved in a minor accident. The incident was reported to have happened on August 10 at the 82-kilometre peg.
According to the report, Zimbabwe Republic Police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the truck struck the pedestrian, who died at the scene, while all 22 passengers aboard the truck were injured. The passengers were taken to hospital and police investigations were continuing.
The incident also highlighted a danger that can follow an initial crash. Nyathi urged motorists to be extremely careful when approaching accident scenes and said vehicles involved in collisions must place adequate warning signs, especially reflective triangles. The warning matters because a vehicle or person left in the road after a first accident can create a second emergency for drivers who have little time to react.
The two incidents are not reported as connected, and there is no evidence in the available accounts that the causes were the same. They do, however, show different forms of vulnerability: mourners travelling in a car, a pedestrian exposed near a highway and passengers caught in a vehicle that swerved to avoid an earlier crash. In each case, the margin for error was small and the consequences were severe.
A further crash involving mourners was reported along the Harare-Chirundu Road a few days before the Kadoma tragedy. My Zimbabwe News reported that four people died at about 9pm on a Saturday near the Chinhoyi Provincial Heroes Acre when a lorry travelling from Harare towards Chinhoyi collided head-on with a Honda Fit travelling in the opposite direction. The Honda Fit was carrying people on a journey to a funeral in Harare, including a couple who had travelled from Zambia while accompanying the body of a relative.
Inspector Effort Chapoto, Chinhoyi’s officer in charge of traffic, was quoted as saying that the Honda Fit driver and the couple from Zambia died at the scene. A pedestrian was also killed in the aftermath of the collision, while another passenger in the Honda Fit suffered serious injuries and was admitted to the intensive care unit at Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital. The lorry driver survived but was injured and reported to be in a stable condition. The report described the area near the Heroes Acre as a black spot, although the causes of that collision remained under investigation. The account is a striking parallel to the Kadoma crash: in both cases, people travelling in connection with a funeral became victims of a head-on collision involving a small Honda vehicle and a larger road vehicle.
In a separate reported tragedy in Chivi, an 18-year-old student athlete Brayce Charare died after he was reportedly hit by a car while riding his bicycle along the Chiredzi-Ngundu Road at Dare. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Ngundu Clinic. Charare was described as a talented sportsman who excelled in football, athletics, handball and long jump.
The report said Charare’s close friend, 19-year-old Exodus Muteiwa, later died by suicide after hearing the news. Police confirmed the incidents, according to the report. The deaths were not linked to the Kadoma crash, but the account illustrates how the loss of a young athlete can affect an entire network of friends, relatives, schools and sporting communities.
Such reporting must be handled with care. The grief of families should not be reduced to a dramatic label, and speculation about “bad spirits” should not be presented as an established explanation for a death. What can be stated is that sudden death can place an intense emotional burden on people who are left behind. Families and friends facing overwhelming grief should be encouraged to seek immediate support from trusted relatives, health professionals, faith leaders or emergency services.
In Kadoma, the immediate questions remain with the police and the injured driver. Investigators will have to establish the sequence of events near the service station, identify the factors that placed the Honda Fit and Double Cab on a collision course, and determine whether further action is required. Witness accounts, vehicle inspections, hospital records and the physical evidence at the scene may all be important.
For residents of Ingezi Township, however, the investigation will not remove the human cost. Four people who had gone to a cemetery to mourn another resident will now be remembered there themselves. One family is grieving a 27-year-old mother; another is mourning a 39-year-old daughter; another has lost a 26-year-old woman; and the community is trying to account for Fungai Dzomba, whose age was not included in the supplied report.
The deaths also leave Kadoma’s netball teams without three of their players. In the weeks ahead, tributes may focus on their sporting ability, but the families are likely to remember the everyday details that statistics cannot capture: the conversations before the journey, the plans made for the next day and the expectation that everyone would return home after the burial.
Until the police complete their work, the cause of the collision should not be assumed. What is already clear is that the crash has turned a journey from Rimuka Cemetery into a multiple-fatality investigation and a city-wide bereavement. The pledged support from the City of Kadoma may help with the immediate funeral arrangements, but the longer work of caring for the surviving child, supporting the injured driver and assisting the grieving families will continue well beyond the burial ceremonies.