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While 500 seats had been arranged to accommodate the family of the deceased, hundreds more gathered on the periphery. Access restricted by a fence was violated by community members attempting to approach procedures, despite the presence of a large contingent of health officials and law enforcement officials.
On Friday, the provincial government issued a notice saying that the minister of traditional affairs and cooperative governance, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and the prime minister of KwaZulu-Natal, Sihle Zikalala, “would lead a government delegation to attend the funeral of 13 family members who died in a tragic accident in Bulwer last weekend ”.
Dlamini-Zuma, who this week extended the national state of disaster for another month, did not attend the funeral and his office said he had other commitments.
She had been included on the show to deliver the eulogy.
Zikalala made a hasty exit as soon as the crowd began to grow, her office said she had an urgent provincial executive committee meeting to attend.
Transportation, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Bheki Ntuli warned funeral attendees about the possibility of a second wave of Covid-19 infections.
“We hear that scientists say there will be a second wave. They even say that it may be more dangerous than the first. We know that this disease killed so many people and our condolences to the government. “
Ntuli said that the death of the 13 members of the Mndali family was an unfortunate but unique situation.
“Mndali’s situation is unique because we usually attend a mass funeral for different families. We find that people from different families go in a taxi and die. Sometimes their last names will be the same but they are not known. But in this Mndali family, we find that all the people came from the same event, from the same family, and are related. It is unique because we have never buried 13 members of the same family in one day. “
He thanked the attendees for wearing masks.
“We thank you for wearing masks because this pandemic is affecting us and we cannot escape it. As a government, we would like to make sure that people wear their masks, wash their hands with water, and disinfect them. When we are in queues we must distance ourselves socially because this pandemic is dangerous, “he said.
TimesLIVE
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