Msunduzi Municipality is investigating an incident where a municipal employee and their vehicle are allegedly implicated in a hit-and-run incident which resulted in the death of a 37-year-old woman.
The Ndlovu family say they will not rest until they get justice, after Thabisile Judith Cele was hit and run over by a car, allegedly belonging to the municipality, on July 30 in Willowfontein, in the KwaPhupha area.
It is alleged that the driver of the car is a municipal employee from the area.
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According to Cele’s husband, Nkosinathi Ndlovu, the incident happened just before 7 pm. He told The Witness that his wife had gone to fetch their child from Willowfontein when the incident took place.
Our home is in the same area as my wife’s home, so she was walking. She was walking with two children, aged 15 and 17. At first the car missed her and they decided to change the side of the road that they were walking on because they saw that the car was speeding. The car drove past them and made a U-turn after they began walking on the opposite side of the road.
“When the car came back for the second time, the driver drove straight into her but she ducked. The third time she was not lucky because the car hit her. The driver stopped but immediately started the car and drove on top of Thabi [deceased] towards the main road,” he said.
Ndlovu said the driver tried to switch off their lights after the incident but it was too late because the children had already taken down the car’s number plates.
The children came home to tell me what had happened. She was still alive when I got to the scene but her ribs were broken. We took a car and rushed her to Mbalenhle Clinic but, on arrival, the doctors told us that there was no way she was going to survive because the injuries were severe.
“We reported the matter to the police and opened a case, but the driver is still roaming around free while we have lost a family member.
“It is so painful because now it looks like the justice system is failing us. We want the person who is behind this to be punished because he is known.
“The children are traumatised by what they saw and now they are even scared to go to the shop because they are scared he might run them over with a car as well.”
He added that, as a family, they will not rest until justice is served. He said they do not want to end up in a situation where they take the law into their own hands.
We also reported this to the municipality and we were asked to write a letter with all the details but, up to this day, we do not know what is happening. Instead, the suspect is using another municipal car and not the one that killed my wife.
Msunduzi Municipality spokesperson, Ntobeko Mkhize, said they are aware of the incident and there are internal processes that are taking place.
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The matter is under investigation and the family and other concerned parties will be apprised of the outcome of an internal investigation once it is concluded.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nqobile Gwala said that a case of culpable homicide has been opened.