Devastated families who lost their children at the tavern tragedy in East London have shared their mixed emotions as they continue to conduct the burials of their loved ones after the government mass funeral service.
The government hosted a mass funeral service of the 19 victims of Enyobeni Tavern on wednesday when two of the 21 families had gone ahead with burials of their loved ones. Some family members could not contain their emotions as they broke into tears as the 19 coffins were brought inside the marquee, where president Cyril Ramaphosa delivered eulogy for the 21 young lives.
Several families began their own burial processes which involved certain rituals such as going to Enyobeni Tavern to fetch the spirits of the deceased before being taken to their burial sites. Immediately after the official event the family of the youngest victim 13 year-old Thembinkosi Silwane collected his remains and conducted its own burial.
Distraught mother of the 13 year-old Thobeka Silwane said life will never be the same without her son whom she called by the nickname Kwelele.
The Grade Seven learner was a talented car mechanic who started driving cars from the age of nine. Silwane said she was never worried when he’s out because he used to go with a neighbour who runs a mechanical workshop on the side of the road to fix cars.
She said: “When he was not at school I knew he was busy fixing cars until late. Sometimes they would go with this older mechanic he was working with to fix cars for clients and come home late. At times he phoned and informed me but his phone had a problem lately, so we did not communicate on this day.”
Silwane said they appreciate everything that the government has done because none of them expected to be burying their children on that day. However, she said the tavern owner knows what actually happened and all the answers that the government is looking for lies with him.
“He is the one who organised the event that took the lives of our children. Why was he even specific about what they should wear? He needs to explain all of that,” she said.
On losing her younger son Silwane said: “I have a friend, someone I rely on and confide with. I was planning to take him to a technical college after Grade Seven to improve on his car mechanic skills.”
Another victim’s father Malibongwe Tshemese, who is the father to 15 year-old Sikelela Tshemese said their family’s wish was to bury his son at his home village at KwaBhaca but the AVBOB burial support limited them to doing the burial in East London.
Tshemese said: “Government played its part, we were given food parcels on top of what AVBOB did for us but this was not enough for us to conduct the burial at home in KwaBhaca.”
The Malangeni family which lost their 17 year-old daughter Esinako and other families conducted their burial this weekend.
Meanwhile, the police minister Bheki Cele promised the families to return with answers to issues that the community raised. Cele said the Scenery Park Police will answer because the community said it has lodged a complaint about the tavern but nothing was done.
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