Posted in News on Sep 20, 2004.
The Taung-born Lesego Kwate and his family loved his club with all his life and was singing victory songs for his club when he met his untimely death.
In his condolence message, Club Chairman Kaizer Moatung said, "This is a shock to us, as we were still celebrating our hard fought victory over Swallows when the news broke. It's unbelievable that we came back from Durban minus one of us. Any supporter of Chiefs is like one of my immediate family members and I am shattered. To the Kwate family, we pray for God's generous comfort, for we know His grace is sufficient for us".
Amakhosi spokesman Putco Mafani said his club was already assisting the victims of the tragic accident treated at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, "We have hired transport to help the other injured supporters and take those that are discharged home to Rustenburg although they have indicated their wish to go to Taung first, the home of the late Lesego and make an official report with the family.
We will also send a delegation from head office sometime this week to meet and pray with the family."
There were concerns from a Chiefs management delegation of Putco Mafani, Bobby Motaung, Cecil Motaung and Thami Myaluza who visited the hospital on hearing the news, about what they described as "a seemingly short staffing of the X-ray department and lack of urgency in the execution of duties by those who had the patients' lives in their hands such that one patient.
The driver of the kombi was left lying on a stretcher outside under the sun. At some stage there were no visible nursing staff and doctors around to offer professional assistance to patients lying on stretchers at the X-ray department, it was chaos and later a senior matron at the Casualty Department was even reluctant to act on the requests regarding the plight of the injured supporters who had not been given even pain killers since midnight, not until former and one time Gauteng Health MEC Mondli Gungubele intervened at our request and made calls to the present authorities that we saw action", said Mafani.
Reacting on behalf of the MEC for Health on Gauteng, Advocate Mpelegeng Lebeloane called Mafani and requested a written report on the whole hospital saga. Mafani had earlier experienced a similar "cold and unco-operative attitude that depicted lack of professionalism" by an assistant in the MEC's office by the name of Thandi, when she laughed off what was reported on the phone, instead of channeling the complaint through to the executive manager of the department in the absence of the MEC.
The report concluded by saying the club would do its utmost to give assistance to the affected supporters.
Those injured and are still at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital at different wards are: Abram Diokane, Ntebaleng Theto, Elizabeth Motlapeng, Siphiwo Saki, William Mmanabelane, David Matsam who are all stable with no critical injuries, and the rest that have been checked and discharged are Morio Nyathela, Tapelo Motaung, Zacharia Lebapalo, Morgan Buis, Tumelo Makgapane, and Shadrack Mokgele.