The family of a man killed in Cape Town while cycling to work are taking his body to his birthplace, Matatiele, for burial.
|||Cape Town - The family of a man killed in Durban Road while cycling to work last week are taking his body to his birthplace, Matatiele, for burial.
Tsepiso “Action” Dlamini, 31, who worked as a groom at an equestrian centre outside Durbanville, died when struck by a bus at the intersection of Durban and Eversdal roads last week.
On Thursday, Dlamini’s wife and two of his three children left for Matatiele, helped by a former employer of the man described as a gentle horse handler.
Former employer Jenny van der Hoff said Dlamini was on his way to work at the horse yard of Theresa Perotti just outside Durbanville when he died. He had gone to see his family on Monday night to take them money and clothes he had bought for them.
Although Dlamini admired the Rastafarian lifestyle, he neither smoked nor drank alcohol and was interested in healthy living, Van der Hoff said.
“It is going to be a sad day today, because I am taking his wife Zama and two older children to the bus today so they can travel to Matatiele for his funeral,” she said. The youngest child will travel with Dlamini’s brother on Sunday.
“Action preferred to cycle between his family’s home and his work at the time because of the bus strike and because he wanted to be with his horses as early as possible in the morning.
“He was without a doubt gifted; gifted at being a fast learner and gifted at dealing with animals, especially horses. He worked with Springbok polo player Selby Williams in Matatiele from an early age and learnt to school polo ponies. He was a natural, he had the most gentle hands with horses.”
Dlamini moved to the Western Cape in 2004 where he worked as a polo groom until 2011 with Van der Hoff, before starting with Perotti.
He was the head of his own family and also took care of his younger brother, Van der Hoff said.
Van der Hoff and Perotti have established this account for donations to help Dlamini’s family: The Action Fund, Nedbank savings account 2005735833, branch ode 198765.
“Many questions around this tragedy remain unanswered and I intend to get to the bottom of it,” Van der Hoff said. “One should question whether this intersection is safe, for one thing.”
* Sapa reports that a woman died yesterday when she was hit by a taxi at Durbanville taxi rank, paramedics said. An ER24 spokeswoman said the 31-year-old woman was standing between two taxis when one of the vehicles was rear-ended by a third taxi.
The woman died on the scene.
Cape Argus