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One year later, the deep scars left by the tragic death of 21 youngsters at the Enyobeni Tavern in Scenery Park in East London in the Eastern Cape have yet to heal.
Furious parents of the children who lost their lives at the tavern on June 26 2022 - the youngest aged 13 - well as the community at large, are still reeling from the trauma of losing so many young lives. They are also "still in the dark about what killed our children" and the "tavern owners are still selling alcohol to our underage children".
"I will die a broken man!" said father of four, Khululekile Ncandana. His 18-year-old son Bhongolwethu Ncandana was among the high school pupils who died during a "pens down" celebration at the tavern on that fateful night.
"How can a parent bury his or her son? To make it worse we as his family still do not know what killed him," the 56-year-old told City Press at his home in East London this week.
READ: Enyobeni's closure was a gift to other taverns, as underage drinkers remain undeterred
While his entire family was shattered by Bhongolwethu's death, Ncandana shared that his wife was the hardest hit by the untimely death of their third-born child.
"His mom couldn't go to church and she would break down when she went to church or to funerals because she was always thinking of her child," Ncandana explained. He added that on the day of the incident, his daughter experienced multiple seizures after her brother'Bhongolwethu's death, "which was something that had never happened before".
Ncandana, whose son aspired to be a police officer "so the he could be part of efforts to curb crime in the country", said while he was not aware his son consumed alcohol, more needed to be done to fight and prevent underage drinking as well as access to these establishments.
He said it was disheartening that even after the death of his son and 20 other children last year, nothing had been done to hold the tavern owners to account.
The victims were aged 15, 17 and 25.
He lamented:
"There are a few places where you see older people sitting in taverns so the owners say they don't have buying power and the youth have buying power."
JUNE 26 horror
Recalling that fateful day when he found out that his son had died, Ncandana said he was preparing to go to church.
"My son was spending the weekend at his aunt's house. As I was preparing for church, a call came in to say something happened in [Scenery Park] and that [Bhongelwethu] didn't come back after leaving home the night before," he said.
"A sister of one of his friends saw a picture of her brother slumped over a table in the tavern. We then drove to the tavern. It was around 9am. When we arrived we couldn't get in because the place was already barricaded by the police."
Ncandana recalled how he was not sure if his son was dead or had been taken to hospital.
"So we went to check at the hospitals first, and we could not find him anywhere. We then went to the Woodbrook mortuary and that is where we found him."
Struggling to hold back his tears between deep breaths, Ncandana recalled:
"When I saw him, it was still unbelievable, it was as if I was dreaming. To this day, when the gate opens, around the time he would normally return home, I think it might be him. When things like that happen, you sometimes pinch yourself so as to remind yourself that this [his death] is real."
Like Ncandana, Sdima Rangile is yet to heal from the shock of his son's death a year ago. His fourth born son, Mbulelo Rangile would have turned 19 in November this year. However, like Bhongolwethu, his life was cut short in the Enyobeni tavern tragedy.
Rangile told City Press how as a parent he would never find closure after losing "my heart".
"He was everything to me," he said emotionally.
Speaking about the provincial government and Buffalo City Metro's decision to organise a mass funeral with empty coffins despite the families' objections to that service, Rangile said their objections were because of different cultural beliefs.
No toxicology report
While the families are still mourning and seeking answers, Ncandana and Rangile said not knowing what "really killed the children a year later" was adding to their pain and struggle to heal.
In September last year, the Eastern Cape department of health announced that it had presented the final autopsy results to the families. The 21 children were believed to have suffocated to death due to overcrowding, according to the report. However, the families of the deceased have rejected these findings.
READ: 'It's just alcohol, not drugs' – Underage drinkers defend booze-fuelled lifestyle
"We are not sure if there is another report, because when the department first gave us the preliminary results a week after the incident, the report was ruled out. That was before we buried the children and after the burials, we met them again at the Cambridge Police Station where they said a stampede was ruled out," Ncandana explained.
According to Ncandana, the families were subsequently told by the health department that each parent would be called in individually "to be given the results according to their own child".
He added: "It did happen [the meeting] on September 1 2022 as we were putting pressure on the department for them to give us the results [of the investigation] because they had said they had brought in more specialists to work on the report. We were then told that we won't be getting anything because the report was confidential. How can it be confidential when it is our own children? To this day, it remains confidential."
Tavern owner proclaims his innocence
While Enyobeni Tavern owner Siyakhngela Ndevu was arrested on charges of violating the Liquor Act by selling alcohol to children under 18, refused to take responsibility for the tragedy. Speaking to City Press at his club, which was shut down in June last year, the 52-year-old said: "I did not kill anyone."
He explained that he was nowhere near the establishment when "the chaos broke out".
"How do you charge me with serving alcohol to children when I was not anywhere near the establishment when all this happened? I was out in the bush. By the time I arrived here, it was a mess. I am not responsible. I did not kill anyone. I did not do anything that caused their deaths. There is no law in South Africa that says kids are not allowed in a tavern. All it says is that no one must supply or sell alcohol to underage children."
At the time of writing, the department had not responded to City Press inquiry at the time of writing.
