Chief Mabhikwa was trapped in his vehicle wreckage for more than three hours after a crash which claimed his life, a close family member has told CITE.
The traditional leader, who was only 28 years old, died after his Isuzu twin-cab vehicle collided head-on with a haulage truck on the 195km peg along Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road on Sunday night.
A relative who spoke to CITE revealed that some of the motorists who arrived at the scene of the accident failed to extricate him from the mangled vehicle as he was trapped inside. Said the relative:
He was involved in an accident around 2100 hours in the evening only to reach St Luke’s Hospital after midnight. We are talking about a provincial hospital which had no emergency ambulance.
They (other motorists) failed to assist him since his lower body was trapped and they had no expertise on how to assist, so by the time he got to the hospital he had already lost a lot of blood, with a dislocated/ fractured hip bone.
Born Nichodemus Vusumuzi Khumalo, Chief Mabhikwa of Lupane District in Matabeleland North Province became the youngest chief when he replaced his father Edwin Khumalo in 2012 at the age of 18.
Without wanting to sound heartless, and I’m sorry to say this; this Chief’s accident was imminent, I’m certainly not surprised it finally happened!! To be truthful, his driving was atrocious, what really surprises me is how he even survived this long on the highways. He was simply a rough rider, loved speed, never courteous on the road, always disregarded road rules and would always overtake on dangerous spots; actually the accident was long coming!!
These Chiefs support looting now he has died due to late admission to a hospital. If an ambulance firebrigade had both arrived he could have survived His failure speak against looting and brutailty against his own people,has led him to loosing his own life which is unfortunate but a warning to accamplices that they will face the same fate ordinary people are facing