Sole survivor recounts Kadoma crash that claimed 6
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He turned to Facebook early this week to ask colleagues to help him “thank the Almighty” for his mercies that saw him survive “a horrific car accident where five people perished on the spot and I survived with a few bruises”.
“Up to now, I don’t know what happened, but eish, I just want to thank God for protecting me even if I am a sinner.”
His name is Adrian Tafara Mabhena, a 41-year-old retail manager at Tshuma Milling (Pvt) Limited.
Mr Mabhena’s rural home is in the Mwembe area in Mberengwa District, but is presently based in Kadoma where he works.
On the evening of November 3, 2023, he was on duty, travelling with three of his workmates in a Toyota Land Cruiser.
As they drove home, they offered transport to three stranded people who were by the roadside at Battlefields, commonly known as BF, but a few kilometres from that spot, the driver lost control of the Toyota Land Cruiser, and it veered off the road before overturning, killing five people on the spot.
The accident happened around 9pm, at the 153km peg along the Harare-Bulawayo highway, according to police.
The sixth person died on Wednesday this week.
Now, Mr Mabhena becomes the only survivor from the accident, and duly, he has every reason to thank his God, especially considering that his injuries were not deemed too bad that staff at Kadoma General Hospital discharged him later that night.
Mr Mabhena told The Herald that the accident happened as he was coming from a mine known as Toppers, about 15km west of Battlefields, between Kwekwe and Kadoma.
“We had gone there to deliver a compressor for our company’s mining activities. So we were now coming back to Kadoma where we are based,” he said yesterday.
Asked of any discussion they had just had before the accident, Mr Mabhena said: “My late friend, who was the driver, had just discovered why his parents had named him Tichaona Dickson.
“We were playing old school music and had just listened to Mukadota’s song where he says “ndini Dickson, repachitupa Tichaona.”
Apart from the driver of the car, who Mr Mabhena says was his “best friend”, the company lost two other workers, while the other three were hitch-hikers picked up at Battlefields.
“I managed to pull myself out of the car usoon after the accident and fortunately there was a workmate who had just stopped to witness the accident, so he swiftly took me to the hospital where I was discharged on the same night.
“I am feeling much better now, save for a backache and some bruises which are healing quite well though. Mentally it’s going to take some time for me to completely recover from this experience especially that I am now the only survivor of that accident, after the other person sadly passed away on Wednesday,” said Mr Mabhena.
Accidents have become major killers in Zimbabwe, with the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency revealing in April this year that 8 897 people died in traffic accidents between 2019 and last year.
Last year alone, about 2 079 people died in 52 585 road accidents.
It remains difficult to know for certain the major cause of road accidents in the country, as motorists tend to blame the road network, while Government arms including the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) and the police blame negligence on the part of motorists. Probably to show that it is the drivers who are to blame, fatal accidents continue to be recorded on some of the recently upgraded roads including the Harare-Bulawayo highway and the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi believes human error is largely to blame for the accidents.
A large number of the accidents have occurred as a result of burst tyres, drivers losing control of their vehicles due to brake failure and overtaking on prohibited spots.
From 2017 to 2019, Zimbabwe was recording over five deaths per day, according to the TSCZ. But the World Health Organisation suggests that the numbers could be more than three times higher at about 7 000 road deaths per year, accounting for people who die on the way, in hospital or after discharge.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1,35 million people are killed on the roads around the world every year. Each day, about 3 700 people are killed worldwide in crashes involving cars, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, trucks, or pedestrians.
With the 2023 festive season set to start, there are calls on motorists to exercise extreme caution on the roads to save lives.
From December 15 last year to January 5, this year, 127 people were killed in road traffic accidents, which left 489 others injured, compared to 102 people killed and 478 injured in the period December 15, 2021 to January 5, 2022.
