“Mommy do not get other children. I’m still young and my schooling will be expensive, because I want to become somebody like a president or a minister.”
Emilia Hamukoto says these were the words of her son, Lazarus Hamutenya (9), who died on the Otjiwarongo-Okahandja road when a Ministry of Health and Social Services 14-seater minibus crashed with an oncoming truck on Friday.
All the occupants of the minibus died, including the driver and three nurses who were accompanying patients from Khorixas District Hospital to Katutura State Hospital.
Hamutenya was the youngest among the four children in the minibus.
The others were 11, 13 and 18 years old.
Hamukoto, who lives in Windhoek, says she was waiting to meet her son at the hospital for him to spend the school holidays with her.
She says while waiting at her workplace, her supervisor told her of the possible accident between Okahandja and Otjiwarongo.
“I checked Facebook and saw there was an accident. Then I called the driver, but his phone went unanswered.
“Later we were called by the health ministry and informed of the loss of our family members’ lives.
“My son was so kind. This is a real tough time for us,” she says.
According to a police report, all the occupants in the vehicle between the ages of nine and 54 burnt beyond recognition and died.
“We are still waiting to identify the body, because DNA is needed.
I think that will happen by this Wednesday,” Hamukoto says.
Otjiwarongo regional police commander commissioner Philip Hidengwa has confirmed that all 11 bodies were recovered from the scene about 30km south of Otjiwarongo.
Preliminary investigations suggest the accident occurred at around 06h00 when the minibus may have struck a kudu.
The driver then lost control and veered into an oncoming truck, the police say.
The driver of the minibus (50) and two nurses were also killed, while the truck driver (46) and his assistant survived.
Andrew Kaunotjeve says he will never forget his younger sister, Victoria Kaunotjeve.
Victoria and her two children, aged 14 and 18, were also on the minibus on Friday.
“Victoria was a single mother. She was unemployed, and I cared for her and her two children,” Andrew says.
He says his sister suffered from a medical condition and that during their last conversation the family wanted to send a member to live with her to help take care of her children.
“She had the most well-disciplined children. The daughter was 14 and in Grade 8, while the son was 18 and in Grade 10.
“The boy always came to me during holidays, but this holiday, both children wanted to be with their mother.
What we didn’t know was that they would die together, just as they lived alone, just the three of them,” Andrew says.
The children were students at Goreseb Senior Secondary school at Khorixas.
Otjozondjupa governor John ||Khamuseb says the news of the accident and lives lost came as a great shock to him.
He says churches should hold national prayer days to prevent road accidents, especially on the Otavi-Okahandja road.
||Khamuseb says God’s intervention is needed.
“We lost the three teachers in April on the same road. Thereafter it was the former governor James Uerikua and his son. Now it’s 11 more people . . .
“The churches will have to come together and conduct prayers of unity to stop the scourge of road crashes.
As the government, we extend our condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost their lives,” he says.
A total of 21 people died on Namibia’s roads from 1 to 4 May.
The first accident in which eight people died in a head-on collision between a minibus and a truck on the B2 road was reported on Wednesday evening between Arandis and Swakopmund.
Erongo regional commander Nikolaus Kupembona says the minibus was travelling from Arandis.
“According to our preliminary investigation, it looks like there is no survivor in the minibus,” he says, adding that the police have opened a case of culpable homicide.
The cause of the crash is unknown and investigations continue.
On Friday, University of Namibia Rugby Club player Graham April died on the Usakos-Karibib road in a head-on collision.
On Sunday, Stella Orren (67), died in an accident 7km outside Karibib.
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