Four people, including a three-month-old baby are still missing following the Jukskei River tragedy that claimed the lives of 14 people at the weekend in Johannesburg.
Baby Sinenhlanhla Renqe, her three-year-old sister Elihle and their grandmother Sheila are among those swept away during a baptism service on Saturday.
The infant’s mother Zikhona Renqe, who survived the ordeal, was among families that flocked to the Hillbrow mortuary in Johannesburg to identify relatives. Zikhona had the arduous task of identifying her children and mother among the bodies recovered from the raging river following a flash flood.
The 24-year-old broke down after positively identifying her mother and her three-year-old daughter, but the body of her infant is still missing.
“This means we are stuck. We can’t bury the two without the little one. The mother wants her baby,” said Zikhona’s cousin Mimi Mokoa.
“We are still trying to figure out the extent of this disaster in the family. We have tried to get answers from the priest, but he is nowhere to be found,” Mokoa said.
“Only he can tell us how many people were there. As a family, we are at a great loss. It’s really hard.”
More families queued outside the pathology facility waiting to be called in to identify their loved ones.
While some families were visibly distraught after making positive identifications, some went back home without any answers.
The family of Thokozani Sibanda are still confused about her whereabouts and said they were praying that she was alive.
Her aunt Hloniphani Ncube said they weren’t able to find her in any of the pictures shown to them on a screen but knew that she had left with a friend to attend the church service.
“We are really confused. We just want to know where she is,” Ncube said.
“We are hoping that she is still alive wherever she is.
“For now all we can do as a family is wait for answers. We hope the priest can assist with any information.”
She said Sibanda was a caring mother of three who lived in Alexandra with her husband.
The search and rescue operation that was meant to resume on Monday was called off due to rainy conditions.
Johannesburg EMS spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said while rescue teams anticipated the recovery of more bodies, they could not risk entering the water while it rained.
“We will continue to monitor the weather, but as it stands we cannot risk any rescuers going into the water for their safety and also due to poor visibility,” he said.
“We are still concerned about the number of people still looking for their loves ones who were here on Sunday but who could not find them during the identification process.”
While Mulaudzi said authorities were trying to engage the church leader to get more information on the number of people who were in attendance, he also called on any other families who have missing loved ones to come forward with any information.
The families said they did not have any information regarding who the church leader is and no one had heard from him since the tragedy.
sibiyan@sowetan.co.za
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