Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mbabane (Agenzia Fides) - Daily prayers until 6 September to commemorate the young victims of the road accident on August 28 in Swaziland. This was decided by Mgr. José Luis Ponce de León, IMC, Bishop of Manzini.
According to the Swaziland Solidarity Network, the accident occurred on the highway connecting Mbabane to Manzini where at least 38 girls were killed and a dozen other people were injured. The girls were going to the royal residence on the occasion of a traditional feast, "the dance of the reeds", during which the king chooses a new wife from thousands of virgins who are dancing. Later the local police reduced the scale of the tragedy, stating that the victims are 13 and not 38. The Swaziland Solidarity Network has instead relaunched in a new statement that the victims are less than 65, several of whom died from injuries. The organization also denounced the conditions of transport of the young invited.
In a statement sent to Agenzia Fides, Mgr. Ponce de Leon asks who is responsible for the loss of so many young victims. "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?".
The Bishop finally calls on all to express solidarity with the victims’ families and thanks Card. Wilfrid Fox Napier, Archbishop of Durban, and Mgr. Stephen Brislin, Archbishop of Cape Town, on behalf of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) for the prayers and messages of solidarity received. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 31/08/2015)
