THE bodies of four Zimbabwean relatives who died in the Boksburg, South Africa, gas leak disaster were repatriated and buried back home, the Zimbabwean Embassy has said.
Patrick Manganye lost four loved ones — his wife, Clester Ndlovu, 26; son Lenmore Ndlovu, four; brotherin-law Siziwe Dube, 20; and Dube’s daughter, Thembelihle Dube, two.
Seventeen people died when a gas that is suspected to be nitric oxide leaked from illegal gold mining activity at the Angelo informal settlement in Boksburg on July 5.
“The government of Zimbabwe assisted the bereaved families and we repatriated all four bodies to Zimbabwe. The government of Zimbabwe has paid for the repatriation from South Africa to their burial place,” Zimbabwean consul-general in Johannesburg Eria Phiri said.
They were buried in Lushongwe village in Gwanda. Sixteen people died on the scene and another died on arrival at Tambo Memorial Hospital. The youngest victim was a one-year-old. Last month, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ordered Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi not to arrest or issue deportation orders for Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) holders after ruling that his decision to terminate the permits was invalid, unlawful and unconstitutional.
The court also ruled that ZEP holders must be allowed to leave or enter South Africa and may not be dealt with in terms of sections 29, 30 and 32 of the Immigration Act on the basis that they are ZEP holders. It further ordered that the permits be valid for a further 12 months until June 2024. The ZEP was introduced in 2009 to allow Zimbabweans to legally live and work in South Africa.
Phiri said Zimbabweans who want to be voluntarily repatriated to the country would be assisted. “That has been expressed clearly by the government of Zimbabwe, which is ready to assist nationals who want to voluntarily repatriate themselves back to the country.
“We are just working on the logistics of doing it, but the Cabinet has already approved that the nationals should be assisted,” he said. Zimbabweans will vote in local, parliamentary and presidential polls in August. —News24