President Emmerson Mnangagwa has granted state assisted funerals for the 22 victims of a fatal road traffic accident which happened on Tuesday night along the 27 km peg on the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Road.
A South Africa-bound Toyota Quantum with 21 passengers onboard had a head-on collision with a DAF truck with 2 occupants between Muchbinding and Ethandweni.
The accident happened barely less than 24 hours after two separate similar ones occurred killing nine people.
In a statement on Thursday, Mnangagwa issued his condolences to the deceased families saying that “Zimbabwe does not deserve this at all, let alone such a bloody beginning to this year’s festive season.”
“The death of 22 Zimbabweans in a head-on collision along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Highway on Tuesday night left me horrified and heart-broken,” Mnangagwa said.
“What adds to the horror is that this accident comes barely days after two separate similar ones in which nine innocent lives also perished. Zimbabwe does not deserve this at all, let alone such a bloody beginning to this year’s festive season.
“Everything has to be done to arrest this needless loss of life at a time when we all should be celebrating closure to yet another peaceful year,” Mnangagwa said.
“I thus appeal to all motorists to exercise maximum caution on our roads, both for their sake and for the safety of fellow road users who do not deserve a violent end such as we have just witnessed.
“I direct all arms of Government seized with the responsibility of ensuring safety on our roads to work around the clock, and to use all means and powers lawfully available to them to reduce if not put an end to such carnage.
“No effort should be spared towards ensuring compliance with our traffic rules, in order to avert any more such accidents which invariably leave scores dead and injured.
“Government will weigh in to the victims of this horrendous crash through State-assisted burial.”
Mnangagwa said there is a need for the development of new road culture.
“As I express my deepest, heartfelt condolences to families and relatives who have lost their loved ones in this deadly crash, my heart goes out to all those injured and still hospitalised, praying that theirs will be a speedy recovery.
“Let us, as a Nation, use this latest bloody accident to develop a new road culture which is founded on responsible, safety-conscious and law-abiding behaviour. We owe one another no less,” he said.
