North West Transport MEC, Mahlakeng Mahlakeng today visited Morokweng village near Vryburg to pay condolences to parents and relatives of the family of four killed in weekend accident. The head of the family was employee of the department.
When 44 year old Solly Monaki and his family of four accompanied by two relatives stepped into a state vehicle to attend to what appeared to be urgent family matters, little did they realise it would be the end of the road for the entire family.
Monaki, his pregnant wife Lerato (32) their two children Katlego (six) and little Karabo (four), died instantly when the double-cab vehicle they were travelling in was involved in a head-on collision with another on the Vryburg-Ganyesa road.
They were travelling from Morokweng to Vryburg when the horror accident wiped out the family this past Friday night at 21h30. In total nine, there were nine fatalities.
Monaki was employed as a driver for the roads component in the Ganyesa office of the department. North West MEC for Public Works, Roads and Transport, Mahlakeng Mahlakeng today paid a condolence visit to the traumatised elderly parents of the deceased, Mr Keaobaka and Mrs Boikhutso Monaki, in Morokweng village.
Both were calm but battling to come to terms with the tragedy and the prospects of a mass burial from one household, the first in the tiny village where every house hold has rallied support behind the family.
“We mourn the loss of life and the department will pull all stops to assist in whatever way including offering counselling services to the parents of the deceased for as long as it is necessary,” he said.
The vehicles involved in the accident, a Nissan and an Isuzu bakkie travelling in the opposite direction were reduced to a heap of metal after impact. One of the two other passengers in the vehicle Monaki was driving, Ms Mminayane Ward (no age given) was also killed. Monaki’s brother in law suffered serious injuries and by yesterday he was still in the Klerksdorp hospital in a critical but stable condition.
The four victims, three men and a woman, in their other vehicle, also died at the scene of the horrific accident. Their identities are yet to be confirmed but indications are that they were travelling from Rustenburg to a funeral in one of the villages in the Ganyesa area.
The cause of the accident is still being investigated.
