By Shelly Guni
The taxi driver who was hired by actress Tinopona Katsande to ferry the body of her late friend has spoken out.
Kudzai Chikango claimed that he was only doing his job since the now deceased Rebecca “Beckey” Chinyerere had just collapsed.
“My job is to ferry people to their desired destination,” Chikango told H-Metro before narrating the ordeal.
“What I know is Tino and Becky were best friends. Sometimes I would drive Tino to Becky’s place and I was also the one who picked them from her place in Belvedere before the fateful day.
“Tino called me around 7pm when I was at home and about to have my supper. She said there was an emergency at her house and the fact that I stay close to her house in Strathaven she called me first.
“When I arrived at her house, we rushed to carry Becky who was lying on the bed. They said she had collapsed and we managed to carry her to the car with the husband.
Asked if they never checked if she was still breathing or not, Chikango said:
“Kutaura shuwa taiti tiri kusaver her life asi zvakazoenda nepamwe hatina kuzombotarisa zvakawanda takangotakura munhu nemurume wake iye Tino,” he said.
Chikango continued:
“So when we had put her in the car. The late Becky’s sons said they wanted to go with their mother so they jumped into the car we couldn’t bock them.
“At first we thought of taking her to hospital but we argued on the services that we could get so we then decided to go to a private hospital.
“When we reached there, Tino went in to call the nurses who then called their doctor.
“The doctor came to where we were parked and he saw the body in the car.
“He then told us that he can’t helps.
“I asked why and he only said, I should close the door that’s is when he said Becky was no more so we should take her to the general hospital were she can be taken to the mortuary.”
Chikango said they took the body to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals where they were told that they could not be helped since the staff had no protective clothing.
That is when they decided to go to Becky’s place to pick any of her relative and if they have an funeral policy to make arrangements.
“During this time I wanted the body to be removed from my car because honestly I was starting to freak out but I also remembered we had the children in the car as well so we drove to Beck’s place in Belvedere where we were turned at the gate by her brother.
“I was shocked kuti munhu angadaro mwana wamai vake shuwa,” he said.
Chikanga added that after they were turned at the gate they returned to Parirenyatwa where they were attended to.
“This time around the doctor attended to us and they took in the body and they called the police who came. Those police officers are the ones who then called the brother to come that is when he came.
“To tell you the truth my sister. Everything that happened that night in my mind I was thinking that I was saving someone’s life little did I know that we could reach were we are now,” said Chikanga.
Meanwhile, Tino’s family paid their condolences to Becky’s family while Tino was reported to have been scared of meeting the bereaved family for reasons known to herself.
A close family member of the Chinyerere’s said the family told them that they only saw the issue in the press and they were trying to understand what had happened.
“Kwakauya hama dzake 5 dzaiti dzakanga dzawona nyaya munewspaper nepa social media. Vaiti ivo vakazama kubata Tino wacho asi her mobile phone and that of her husband are not getting through.
“Isu semhuri takangovatambirawo tikavatsanangurira zvakaitika vakangobata maoko. Hapana zvimwe zvakata,” said the family member.
The body of the late Chinyerere was laid to rest at her village in Guruve on Sunday. H-Metro
