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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
FIVE Zaoga Forward in Faith band members based in South Africa were early yesterday morning killed in a road accident in Pretoria when their vehicle collided with a speeding car along the R21 highway.

The accident that claimed members of the More Praise Band who rose to fame last year with their song Zaoga Yafamba, occurred at around 2AM near the Nellmapius off-ramp in Irene.

It is understood that the group was travelling in their Honda Ballade from Soshanguvhe to Johannesburg where they were expected to launch their new song Njanina.

The bodies were taken to a private mortuary in Pretoria and police are yet to release their names. All the victims are in their early 20s.

Sources close to the ongoing police investigation indicated that the band members’ Honda Ballade and the Audi Q7 were travelling in the same direction.

Along the way, the driver of the Audi Q7 tried to overtake the other car and later spotted an oncoming haulage truck.

“He then tried to go back to his lane and as a result he collided with the Honda and drove over it ripping it into two halves. Four passengers who were in the Honda were thrown out and died instantly while the other occupant was trapped under the wreckage,” said the source.

ER24 spokesperson, Werner Vermaak told journalists that the exact cause of the accident was not known.

He said ER24 paramedics who arrived at the scene found an Audi Q7 lying on its roof and the other vehicle had been ripped into two.

“Four people from the Honda were found lying on the highway. With the other one trapped in the car. The driver of the Audi escaped with minor injuries and was found pacing around the scene and has been taken to hospital for treatment,” he said.

The accident comes a week after nine other Zimbabweans were killed in that country when a commuter omnibus they were travelling in collided with a haulage truck near Naboomspruit along the N1 highway.

This brings to 21 the number of Zimbabweans who have died in road accidents in the neighbouring country since the beginning of the year.

Zimbabwe’s Consul-General to South Africa, Batiraishe Mukonoweshuro said: “We send our heartfelt condolences to the families who lost their young relatives in the tragic accident. The victims had a promising future ahead of them.”