Taxi slams into stranded sisters

When Lorraine Khumalo’s blue Chevrolet stalled in the middle lane on the N3 North on Friday morning, she called the person closest to her – her older sister Sizakele Khumalo.

Sizakele rushed to help her sister, stopping her own Fiat right behind the Chevrolet.

Both cars’ hazard lights flashing, the two women stood between the two cars trying to figure out what to do next.

Minutes later a speeding taxi slammed into the Fiat and sandwiched the sisters between their cars, crushing them.

The force of the crash was so great that both cars slid several metres and crashed into another car in front.

And just like that, Sizakele, 42, and Lorraine, 35, both social workers and both mothers of two children, were dead.

Three people in the taxi were critically hurt and were rushed to hospital. Several others sustained minor injuries.

Gauteng Traffic spokesperson Obed Sibasa said the taxi driver denied he had been at fault. He was released while police investigated the cause of the accident. He could be arrested later.

On Friday night devastated family and friends gathered at the family home in Orlando West.

The women’s brother, Vusi Khumalo, sat in disbelief, unable to comprehend that both his sisters had died.

He saw his sisters last weekend. They had been chatting, laughing, and watching their favourite soccer team, Orlando Pirates, play.

He never imagined that the next time he would see them he would be standing over their cold bodies lying side by side on a cold slab in a morgue.

“I can’t believe what has happened to my sisters. Why does God have to be so cruel? I can’t think of what to say, I am just very miserable. The Khumalos have lost two angels. Lorraine and Sizakele were our pillars of strength, they held our family together,” he said.

The sisters, said Khumalo, had been inseparable.

“I am not surprised the first person Lorraine called was her sister. They were always together and loved each other to bits,” he said.

“No matter where they would go, they would always be together. They could not live without each other.”

The women’s uncle, Joseph, meanwhile, is furious. He was incensed that the taxi driver had not been held by police.

“If I met the taxi driver that killed my nieces I would slit his throat. I wouldn’t say anything to him, I have nothing to say to him, I would kill him,” he said.

“Taxi drivers think they own the roads and drive as they please. For far too long this has been going on. It must stop.”

Joseph Khumalo said his one wish would be to see the taxi driver sentenced to death.

“We need to bring back the death penalty so that people like this will learn a lesson.

“I cannot buy another two nieces,” he said. “They are irreplaceable and their kids will forever live without mothers.

“They had so much more to live for. They had big dreams and were doing so well for themselves.

“Lorraine had just got a new job in Midrand and Sizakele was enjoying her job as a social worker,” he said.

But he will now step in as parent for the four young children. Lorraine, who lived in Spruitview, is survived by her two sons, aged three and 10, while Sizakele, who lived in Katlehong, leaves a 16-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son.

“The children keep asking where their mummy is and I have no idea what to tell them, so I keep quiet,” he said.

“It is so cruel what happened. Why did God have to take away both my sisters?

“God should have at least left me with one sister so that the kids could be taken care of.”

Vusi said he couldn’t replace their mothers, but would do his best.

“I am never going to be able to give them the same as what they got from their mothers. Life will never be the same without their mothers and that’s the harsh reality.

“The family has lost the two most amazing family members and a family has been torn apart because of a reckless taxi driver,” he said. - Saturday Star