MBOMBELA – The city was covered by a dark cloud this past week when five road accidents occurred within a space of two days.
A horrific taxi accident, which claimed 11 lives on Friday morning on the Plaston Road, left residents in shock.
Mpumalanga News interacted with various citizens regarding the road accidents.
They voiced different views about the matter.
Some believed there were evil spirits operating on busy roads, while others said not performing ritual-cleansing ceremonies in high-accident zones might contribute to more accidents.
Mr Sicelo Mathunjwa said it was about time people united regardless of their beliefs.
“We now live a Western lifestyle yet culturally, when a person dies on the road or in a veld, his spirit is recalled to its ancestral origins by the family through certain rituals.
“In the current circumstances, the spirits of those who die on the roads are not recalled and they loiter all over the place, hence the many accidents that keep on occurring,” he said.
MEC Mr Vusi Shongwe said, “I fully support the views of the public. As government we cannot judge. “Performing cultural rites and prayers will come in handy to handle these problems, but at the same time, we mustn’t ignore human error.
On the issue of prayers, pastoral organisations must come on board and meet with government. We will support all their prayer meetings for road safety,” he pointed out.
Cultural expert, Dr Mafi ka Lubisi said, “When a person dies in a road accident or in a war situation, the relatives, especially elders, must collect the spirit because it has to go somewhere, but in some cases it lingers around and disturbs motorists, which causes accidents, especially at night, when drivers see strange objects in front of them.
“Relatives must use a tree called “mlahla bantfu” to collect the spirit of the deceased. Even European people do that. They don’t only place fl owers, they collect the spirit of their loved ones through conducting certain rituals according to their traditions,” he said.
Gogo Pepsile Maseko said, “Let me fi rst indicate that as Africans, we have unique rituals used during cleansing ceremonies, no matter whether you are a Christian or not, you must perform them.
“A person might take it lightly because he or she is a Christian, forgetting that the spirits of the deceased will affect innocent people by causing road accidents due to the negligence of those who don’t want to collect the spirit of their family members. “It also applies to a person who dies as a result of being stabbed, the spirit has to be collected,” she concluded.
