The victims, who died in Mamatlakala, Limpopo in South Africa on their last journey to Moria, have been in South Africa for over a month following the crash on March 28, just few hours shy from Good Friday driving the nation into an emotional turmoil. This is a story that literally caught fire like winter dried leaves. At an instant, tragedy of losing 45 loyal ZCC regulars became a global affair.
On Tuesday this week, the remains of St Engenas arrived in Botswana ferried by two cargo airplanes after intense forensic examinations to individually identify them after such a long emotional waiting especially for the family of the victims. Botswana has never experienced this. The only time the nation experienced this was in 1978 when 15 members of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) were ambushed by the white regime of former Rhodesian dictator Ian Smith killing 15 soldiers on the spot. Botswana with her small population, deaths of 15 people was such a huge loss.
Batswana at large are expected to pack the stadium to bid one last farewell to the victims before a procession to Ga-Ranta cemetery where a mass burial is expected to take place. The passing of the 45 Batswana is viewed as a national tragedy that has left the nation in total grief for the longest time, now. Since the news broke about the accident, it has been evident that Batswana from across the church denominations have been in joint prayers.
The victims died on a spiritual pilgrimage and it is normal for Christians to have their faith shaken, but for the St Engenas church members, their families have seemingly accepted the loss, which was least expected.
The mass funeral prayer ceremony at the Molepolole Sports Complex is expected to bring closure to Batswana before the victims are taken to their final resting place. Initially, there were reports that since the bodies of the accident victims were charred beyond recogniotion, it was going to be difficult to identify them one by one. But, science came to the rescue after family members quickly provided DNA samples to help scientists identify the remains.
The government of Botswana has been at the forefront from day one until the end ensuring that all the requisite processes and procedures were undertaken, simplifying the processes of identifying the bodies and the final repatriation and then interment. One of the victims Mmegi recently visited in Molepolole said healing has been difficult because everything was not in their hands.
Botho Gabautlwe, who lost a mother and an elder sister, said the waiting game was the most difficult part as they felt helpless. Gabautlwe explained that being there just waiting and not planning any funeral was hard for everyone. She said recovery will be hard and many questions will remain unanswered. Now that things have finally come together, hopefully Gabautlwe and other bereaved family members will find closure and be able to bury their loved ones tomorrow.
At the end of the day, tragic as the accident was, it was able to help cement the seemingly shaken diplomatic relations between neighbours Botswana and South Africa as both countries worked tirelessly and closely together in helping each other to contain the situation.
