Bus full of mourners torched

VEREENIGING. – A bus full of mourners was torched outside a graveyard in Rust-ter- Vaal. Luckily nobody died in the incident.
The incident that was described as ‘a moment of madness’ has left an elderly woman hospitalised with serious burns to her feet and face. Several others sustained various injuries.
The incident happened on August 29 a few minutes after Gogo Mthimkulu was laid to rest and mourners were ready to leave the cemetery.
Rocks were thrown and cars were damaged in the process. According to a bystander the heinous crime was carried out by a small group opposed to the fact that the graveyard was now also open to outsiders.
One of the victims, Mxolisi Hadebe (27), said he injured his back as he jumped out of the window of the burning bus.
Mxolise, a member of the Atlehang Gospel Choir, said the funeral service was for the mother of their choir leader, Kamohelo Mthimkhulu.
The group first tackled the bus with golf clubs and then threw a petrol bomb into the buss. Station Commander of the De Deur Police, Colonel Gideon Mundalamo, said one suspect from Rust-ter-Vaal was arrested and charged for possession of an unlicensed firearm, public violence and malicious damage to property. The Emfuleni MMC for Sports Parks and Cemeteries, Shaka Radebe said the government will never allow the segregation of corpses as this would not comply with the Apartheid on Group Areas Act. This is a democratic country and every citizen has the right to be buried at any graveyard.