He arranged a big wedding to marry his sweetheart this coming Saturday. But life has turned things upside down, as his family is now making funeral arrangements for his burial on the same Saturday.

This is the sad story of a young engineer, Londani Netshiungani (27) of Shayandima, near Thohoyandou. He was supposed to be married to Shonisani Phupheli (23) of Tshavhalovhedzi village, near Makhado, this Saturday.

Londani was on his way back home on Saturday last week to make final arrangements for his wedding when he was involved in a car accident at Middelburg, Mpumalanga, where he worked as a mining overseer at Eyesizwe Mining Company. He started working there last year in June.

Ironically, Londani was the only boy in his family and Shonisani was also the only girl in her family. Londani has three sisters, whereas Shonisani has two brothers.

Londani’s grieving father, Itani said: “I was still expecting many things from him. He was the shining star of this family and we are confused. Our hopes are dashed because it is not easy to accept what happened. All the groceries for the wedding will now be used for his funeral and it is painful. The wedding was finalized and everyone got an invitation card. We cannot understand why it happened this way.”

However, Itani said he is grateful for the support he is getting from the local community. “We have had a lot of support from the public since the tragedy struck. We can at least gather some courage to go on with life, although it is not easy.”

The wordless Shonisani could also not understand why it happened that way. She said she was looking forward to a happy wedding with her husband-to-be. “I am totally devastated, depressed and confused…”

Shonisani’s father, Sam Phupheli, said he was waiting for the big wedding of his daughter when he heard the bad news. “We were waiting for the wedding and did not expect that it could happen that way. We were in a meeting for the wedding preparations on Saturday when we heard that Londani was dead. We were waiting for him at the meeting so that he could make some final touches to the programme, but death has dashed our hopes. Everything, including the clothing, food and wedding rings were already in place. We are confused.”