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The late Wellington Maganga

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
ONE person who was hospitalised after a building housing a Nando’s outlet in Bulawayo collapsed on him and three others has died.

Wellington Maganga (29) sustained serious head injuries when the building caved in on Saturday afternoon and died hours later on the same day at Mater Dei Hospital.

The Chronicle could not establish the condition of three other people who were injured in the incident.

Nando’s Zimbabwe yesterday said on Twitter that it was investigating what caused the collapse of the building located along Jason Moyo Street.

The Chronicle news crew yesterday caught up with members of Maganga’s family who expressed sadness over Saturday night’s sudden death of their loved one.

Maganga’s brother Mr Warren Maganga said they least expected that he could die so soon.

He said his brother died as his life was shaping up.

“He was on work-related learning at Turk Mine. And we were now seeing the fruits of his hard work. All of a sudden he is gone. As a family we’ve come through a lot after losing both our parents in 2004 and four of us helped each other attain education,” he said.

“We didn’t expect this. He is someone who had set his plans and we were starting to see where the plan was heading. One of us is gone and our pillar has been shaken.”

Mr Maganga said the family was not aware that Wellington was one of the people who were in the building when it collapsed until they were contacted by hospital officials over his death.

“We knew the building had collapsed but we didn’t expect that one of us was one of the injured. We were called by nurses at Mater Dei Hospital who told us that there were some complications as they tried to attend to him. He had serious head injuries,” said Mr Maganga.

He said his brother leaves behind a young family.

“He is survived by a wife, Kundai Mugabe and a daughter who has not reached six months of age,” he said.

Mr Maganga said Nando’s had been in touch with them.  “We spoke to them and they said they will be here before 9AM tomorrow morning (today),” he said.

Nando’s Zimbabwe said four people were injured after the building collapsed. “One of [them] has sadly passed. We’re assisting the families of those involved and have already embarked on a full investigation,” the company said.

— @nqotshili