BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI
Grief continued to ripple through Matabeleland North this week as families of eight people who died in the Deka River road accident were laid to rest following a memorial service at Saint Josephine Bakhita Catholic Church in Victoria Falls.
The emotional service, held the day before yesterday, drew mourners from across the city as relatives, church members and community leaders paid tribute to the victims whose lives were cut short in one of several deadly road accidents recorded in Zimbabwe in recent days.
The burials came as President Emmerson Mnangagwa issued a national statement expressing concern over a surge in fatal road traffic accidents across the country, saying 24 people had died in three major crashes within five days.
Mnangagwa described the accidents as a “bloody trail” and called for urgent intervention targeting reckless driving, unroadworthy vehicles and deteriorating road infrastructure.
The latest tragedy occurred along the Gokwe-Kwekwe Road where a head-on collision involving a passenger bus and a haulage truck killed 10 people after the bus allegedly attempted to overtake another vehicle.
“In a space of five days, our nation has witnessed three major road traffic accidents in which 24 innocent lives have perished,” Mnangagwa said in the statement.
He directed government departments and road safety agencies to act with “urgency and greater coordination” to stop the growing carnage on Zimbabwe’s roads, while also ordering the re-establishment of road maintenance units and rehabilitation of weather-damaged highways.
In Victoria Falls, the Deka River tragedy has left a community in mourning, with residents describing the loss of eight lives as devastating for the tourism city.
The memorial service at Saint Josephine Bakhita was marked by prayers, hymns and emotional tributes as families struggled to come to terms with the sudden deaths.
Zimbabwe has witnessed a rise in deadly road accidents in recent months, with authorities frequently citing speeding, human error, reckless overtaking and poor road conditions among the major causes.