Official killed on pavement
The head of Steve Tswete's testing station, Mr Dumisani Vincent "Baktower" Mahlangu, was killed instantly when he was hit by a car on his pavement in Extension 1 on Friday night.
Friends and colleagues of the friendly municipal official was still shocked about his sudden death, since just last week they chatted and joked around with him.
According to family, Mr Mahlangu was in conversation with two friends outside his house at around 19:00, “when the car came screeching down the street”.
“It had already collided with two other vehicles before heading towards the chattering trio,” pastor Gilbert Manana, the deceased’s uncle, told the Observer.
Mr Mahlangu saw the car speeding towards them and yelled at his friends to run away, when he was hit.
His bereaved family told the Observer that they have lost a provider.
“Just this past Christmas he bought a sheep for the family, that came together for a feast,” pastor Manana remembers.
According to the man of the cloth, Mr Mahlangu was a well respected man in the community, his home and the office.
“We were so proud of him,” his torn mother, Sophie, told the Observer in the teary interview on Tuesday.
Though unmarried, Mr Mahlngu has a daughter Karabo, who will now have to fend for herself. Karabo, however, is lucky to still have both her grandma Sophie, and granddad Peter, who are now her pillars of support. Mhluzi police says that a case of culpable homicide was opened and referred to court for a prosecutory decision.
The name of the driver was consequently not divulged by police who also deny that the driver was involved in any other collisions before hitting the deceased.
•Mr Mahlangu was laid to rest on Saturday at the Church of Christ.
