BY PROBLEM MASAU FIFTY-seven-year-old Tangai Tandi gazes into the sky with tear-filled eyes as if to ask the heavens why.
“Nature has it that children bury their parents. It’s painful and difficult for a parent to bury his or her child,” Tandi said.
The Waterfalls man is the father of the late Joyce Tandi, a 17-year-old girl who was fatally hit by one of Passion Java’s cars along Seke road recently.
A portrait of Joyce hangs in the family’s living room.
“She was beautiful, full of life and very promising,” said the father as he fought back tears.
The mother could not contain herself when she heard the chilling details of how her daughter met her demise.
Standardpeople watched the heart-wrenching video caught on CCTV camera of the last moments of Joyce’s life.
In the video, Joyce who was visiting her mother’s sister in Hatfield tried to back-step in the middle of the busy Seke Road after realising that she could not cross.
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Oblivious of an oncoming car in another lane, Joyce was hit and thrown about 30 metres away. She died on the spot.
According to the video, the car that hit her was speeding and did not stop immediately.
The speed limit for the area is 60km per hour.
According to an expert traffic police officer who also saw the video, the car that hit the teenager was cruising at between 140 – 160 kilometres per hour.
Thirty-two-year-old Courage Gwashira claims that he was driving the vehicle.
Passion issued a statement saying he was not at the scene of the accident when it happened.
“After my daughter was hit, the driver did not stop immediately. He later returned after a minute and he came with another car accompanying them. I feel Gwashira is just a sacrificial lamb, Passion was driving that car,” he said.
Tandi said after his daughter was hit at 12:16pm, the family only discovered around 1pm the next day that she had died.
“I do not stay here in Zimbabwe, I work in Zambia. Her mother searched for her the whole day. The following day, that is when she was advised to visit the Chitungwiza General Hospital mortuary, imagine the trauma of identifying your daughter’s lifeless body. She is still in pain,” he said.
The family dismissed rumours circulating on social media that the young girl was pregnant.
“There were two accidents on the day in question. A different car hit a pregnant woman who also died just a few metres from the spot where my daughter was hit. She was God-fearing and a devout Christian even the post-mortem confirmed that she was not pregnant,” he said.
The father said that he was not going to pursue the legal route because the family feels that Zimbabwe’s justice system is compromised.
“I know Passion is rich and he can easily influence the outcome of a court case. If the state wants to press charges, let it be,” he said.
The family revealed that neither Gwashira nor Java contributed anything towards the funeral expenses.
“They did not even come here to pay condolences. The only time I met my daughter’s killer was at a police station where he pledged to pay 10 cows as compensation. Since then, I have never spoken to them,” he said.
Tandi said he was not going to rest until he found closure.
“I will do everything in my power to get closure,” Tandi vowed.
Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi said the matter was still under investigation.
