Tears flows at fire memorial
2010-08-06 09:18
Nigel - "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. This week, he took away."
With these words Ntombi Mekgwe, the Ekurhuleni mayor, tried to comfort the about 200 people who had gathered in the Nigel city hall for the memorial service for the victims of the Pieter Wessels old age home.
"Ekurhuleni and the country will never be the same again after this disaster, but we as a community are closer to each other and to God," she said while the tears at times rolled freely down the cheeks of relatives of the victims and employees of the old age home.
A deeply emotional Charl du Toit, administrative manager of the home, read the names of the 23 victims one by one, while he at times struggled to keep his emotions under control.
DNA samples needed
Some of the deceased had been residents of the home for more than a decade and for 55 of the 106 residents, the personnel of the old age home were their "only family".
While Du Toit read out the names, some of the mourners held each other tightly.
Pastor Louis Gouws, director of the home, at the end of the service called again on the relatives of four of the deceased to prove DNA samples to help with the identification of the remains.
They were Tebello Setona, 80, who had come to the home on July 26 2000, Ati Ben Mabaso, 73, who had stayed there since June 12 2000, George Somdaka, 82, who was a resident since June 12 2000 and Griffiths Xabanisa, 61, who stayed there since June 26 2000. Their titles were not given.
The service was led by Pastor Gideon Reyneke of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The fire started on Sunday at about 20:30.
It presumably started in one of the rooms of the frail care unit, which is run by the church.