A Grade two pupil at Murerekwa Primary School was knocked down and killed by a vehicle while patching potholes and charging motorists passing by.
The incident occurred on 12 August a few meters from the Murerekwa school turnoff towards Roy.
The boy, Blessing Gomana, was hit and dragged for several meters by the motor vehicle.
Ward 8 councillor Tererai Tererai confirmed the incident and said the deceased has already been buried at his home in Gwara village under Chief Ndanga. Said Tererai:
The boy was patching potholes a few meters from the Murerekwa school turnoff towards Roy when a white guy stopped and offered him US$5 as a token.
When he drove off, he mistakenly racked him with a boat trailer he was pulling and dragged him only to stop after some meters.
The driver later stopped and helped the boy to Ndanga Hospital but he died because he had lost a lot of blood.
The driver assisted the family with US$570 to cater for funeral expenses.
Meanwhile, Masvingo Provincial Roads Engineer Robert Mukome has urged parents to forbid children from working on roads. He said:
As a word of advice to parents, please prohibit children from working on highways as motorists will be travelling at very high speed.
The speeding is dangerous to their safety. May this information be relayed through schools within the highway’s corridors as more noise on this notion will help.
Again as a ministry we are still facing some operational challenges constrained mainly on resources.
Management is still engaging all relevant stakeholders to come up with a long-term and sustainable intervention to address this mishap we are encountering.
Let’s continue to exercise patience and caution as we traverse this route, We are working flat out to ensure required resources are availed to address this life-threatening danger posed by the current status of our road.
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