The Sunday Mail
Langton Nyakwenda and Desire Ncube
A CHITUNGWIZA man, Mr Happymore Musakwa, narrated how he tried to save Apostle Charles Chiriseri and his wife Pastor Petunia when they were involved in a horrific car accident near Bulawayo last Thursday. Apostle Chiriseri died on the spot when his Toyota Hilux double cab overturned near Mbembesi area in Matabeleland North province.
His wife survived and is recovering from the injuries sustained in that accident. She is currently admitted at Mater Dei Hospital in Bulawayo.
Mr Musakwa was one of the first people to get to the scene and the Chitungwiza middle aged man still can’t believe what he saw on the fateful day.
He said all his efforts to save the Apostle were in vain as it was a little too late when they arrived on the scene.
“I work in Hwange and on that fateful day, I was travelling to Harare by bus. We were in the Mbembesi area and we noticed that an accident had just occurred.
“What first caught our eyes was the groceries scatted on the tarmac before we saw a Toyota truck that had landed on its roof.
“The bus that we were travelling on stopped and most of the passengers disembarked with keenness to assist the victims and know what could have transpired.
“When we drew closer to the accident scene, we heard a sound coming from the car, there was someone crying but with a very low voice. We concluded that he was trapped,” said Mr Musakwa.
“I rushed to remove the seat belt of the man who was behind the steering but upon removing it, I realised that he was already breathing his last,” he said.
Mr Musakwa said he and everyone who was there never realised that the man they were trying to help was Apostle Chiriseri.
“Even up to now I am still traumatized with the experience of that night. I only got to realise the man I tried to save was popular through the newspapers.
“When we were assisting the man, we then noticed that there was another person on the roadside (Pastor Petunia Chiriseri). We concluded that the person could have been thrown out of the car when the accident occurred.
“We attended to her and at that time she was unconscious and injured. As more and more people were arriving at the scene, we then left with our bus,” narrated Mr Musakwa.
