Memorial service for cameraman

A memorial service was held for cameraman Dudley Saunders at the Afrikaanse Presbiteriaanse Kerk in Randburg.

Saunders died on 30 December after a train hit him in Soweto. He was filming next to the railway line when the train hit him on the shoulder. He was cremated on 3 January – on what would have been his 47th birthday.

Saunders worked on Special Assignment and Carte Blanche for many years.

Family, friends and colleagues came to remember the man who brought joy to their lives. His emotional brother Albert Saunders described Saunders as brave and adventurous.

”We as a family are very proud. Dudley was a man who lived his purpose and found his place. But of course, we also knew his difficulties, and school was definitely not his cup of tea. He always used to sing along to Pink Floyd’s Another brick in the wall,” he said.

Albert said his brother was a child inside, he loved teasing and laughing and had a remarkable presence. ”It is a terrible loss. Brother, rest in peace.”

His Carte Blanche colleague Devi Sankeree Govender remembered when she met Saunders.”I have to confess, when I saw him the first time I thought he was hot. I thought this is what a cameraman should look like. But on that same day we connected on a whole different level. He became my brother. He was not like my brother, he was my brother,”” she recalled.

Govender talked about his work ethics. ”He was never late. Sometimes he would arrive even an hour early. Even though we did difficult stories, we would always talk rubbish on our way to a story. That is one of the best memories I have. I think today he must be a little amused by this fuss we are making. He lived every second, minute and hour. A life of worth.”

Saunders leaves behind his parents Cliff and Rita Saunders, his children Lee and Isabella-Skye, and his partner Bernadette Maguire.