A young newlywed father was among the five passengers who died in a horror taxi accident on the notorious Symphony Way this past weekend.
The crash that took place on Sunday morning was allegedly caused by a taxi driver who jumped a red robot at the Sonata and Symphony Way intersection in Belhar.
The family of Ceagan Lakay, 22, from Delft say they were informed about his death later that day.
His widow Chandre, 22, whom he married just six months ago, on Monday sat with their one-year-old baby on her lap as she recalled her last moments with her high school sweetheart.
“I still walked with him until the gate, he turned around and said, ‘how can I forget to greet you?’ We kissed and I told him to walk safely, not knowing that would be the last time I would see him,” the grieving widow said.
Later in the afternoon a kerksuster came to their house to ask if Ceagan was at home, Chandre added, because she received news that he didn’t show up at his workplace.
“I knew then already that something was wrong, because he was someone who would let us know if something didn’t go accordingly,” she explained.
“I knew him since we were in matric, we were life partners, not knowing that death would do part us this early.
“I miss him already... his voice, his smell, the way he would motivate me. We had so many plans for the future, now it’s just gone.”
Ceagan’s inconsolable mother Angelique, 43, said her heart sank when she arrived at the Belhar SAPS.
She added: “All I could think was why would the driver even do something like that? Didn’t he for a moment think of all those people in the taxi?
“There were children, young fathers and mothers going out to provide for their families, doesn’t he have a conscience? Is an extra R1 or R5 so much to you that you will risk people’s lives?”
The taxi driver was also injured in the incident and transported to hospital.
Police have said no arrests have been made yet.
Meanwhile, Belhar residents took to Facebook to urge the City of Cape Town to implement stricter road safety measures at the busy intersection.
The City’s Traffic Services said the accident was caused due to reckless driving, so it does not suggest that a specific road is “unsafe”.
“Speeding and moving offences in general can occur on any road in the metropole,” it stated.
The City further stated that records showed that for the past three years, the only complaint received for this location was a Golden Arrow bus that offloaded passengers while blocking traffic.
It said that the City’s traffic services deploys officers during peak hours to address moving offences as well as to assist with outages during load shedding.
Ceagan was his family’s breadwinner and they have appealed to the public for any assistance with his burial. Contact 063 976 0709.