Dozens of Swazi Girls Die in Road Accident, Bishop Announces a Week of Prayer for the Bereaved

CANAA || By Fr. Don Bosco Onyalla, Nairobi || 31 August 2015

At least sixty-five young women in Swaziland were killed in a tragic road accident on Friday night, when the truck they were traveling in smashed into a van along Mbabane-Manzini highway.

Bishop José Luis Ponce de León of Manzini diocese has asked for a week-long prayer “for those who died asking the Lord to welcome them home.”

“Let us also pray for their families and friends that “the God of all consolation” (2 Cor 1:3) gives them peace and strength,” the Bishop added in a message addressed to the priests, the religious and all God's people, which he emailed CANAA on Saturday, August 29.

According to reports, the girls were traveling on an open truck to cut reeds for the annual dance festival, popularly known as Umhlanga Reed Dance, where the Swazi king traditionally chooses one of the participants as his newest bride.

"We can now confirm that 65 young girls have perished on that accident even those that we admitted which earlier on were reported critical injured. We want to extend our deepest to their families," the Swaziland Solidarity Network, a South Africa-based pro-democracy Swazi group, has been quoted as saying.

The annual Reed Dance Festival celebrates the Queen Mother in Swaziland.

The event gathers about 40,000 single girls and women at the Royal Village, who sing and dance for eight days.

Below is the full message by Bishop José Luis following the tragic road accident in Swaziland. The message is also available on the Bishop’s blog here.

To:

The priests, the religious
and all God's people

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Peace!

“A voice is heard in Ramah, lamenting and weeping bitterly: it is Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted because they are no more” (Jer 31:15).

Jeremiah's words quoted also by Matthew (2: 17 – 18) sadly resound once again among us. 

We mourn the death of so many young girls at the accident on Friday 28 August 2015.

Let this be a time of prayer. I ask you all from today until next Sunday (06 September) to pray daily for those who died asking the Lord to welcome them home. Let us also pray for their families and friends that “the God of all consolation” (2 Cor 1:3) gives them peace and strength.

May it be a time of deep reflection in our lives. “‘Who, then, is the wise and trustworthy servant whom the master placed over his household to give them their food at the proper time?” (Mt 24:45) Each one of us had been entrusted by God with the safety and dignity of these young people. Aside from those directly responsible for Friday's accident, we need to ask ourselves if there was anything more we could have done to prevent it. Why do we wait until something like this happens before we take every single life seriously?

Let it be a time of solidarity. I call on you all to be close to the families of these children and to support them in every possible way.

The Catholic Church in Swaziland is grateful for the prayer and solidarity messages from Cardinal Napier OFM and Archbishop Brislin in the name of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC).

Fraternally Yours in Christ,

+ José Luis Ponce de León IMC
Bishop of Manzini