And although the sheer size of the crowds, (1 500 on Saturday, September 3, and more than 6 000 on Sunday, September 4) at times impeded the wave of raw emotion which emanated from the epicentre, the overall feeling was one of true compassion and shared loss.
On Saturday, the bus driver Colin Pyl (63) and the three Fiegeland children, Maurishia (15), André (12) and Felicity (10) were buried after a marathon service at the local Pentecostal Church. This service started after an open casket wake at the home of the widow in the morning and only ended after 15:00 that afternoon.
The next day, the funeral of eight of the 14 children who died the bus accident took place in a huge tented complex on the Rheenendal school grounds, in an attempt to accommodate all those who came from far and wide to attend the mass funeral. This influx of several thousands people, including the premier of the Western-Cape, Helen Zille, and the minister of education, Angie Motshekga saw several kilometres of traffic idling over the hills to reach Rheenendal from early morning.
A visibly emotional Motshekga, who gained the crowd’s immediate respect by greeting them in several languages, had to sporadically pause to regain her composure.
"I know what it feels like to lose a child. There are no words which can console you now, but I want to say to you that we all see you today, as in the Zulu greeting, and we see your pain," she said.
Rheenendal Primary principal, Sammy Williams said that Grades 1 to 9 classes had all lost children.
"In Colin Pyl we lost a father figure. We promise to help lift Rheenendal Primary out of the darkness and into the light again."
Two other pupils were buried in George and one in Hornlee on the same day.
Altogether 44 children survived the tragedy when their school bus toppled into Kasat-se-Drif on Wednesday, August 31.
VIEW PHOTOS OF SATURDAY'S FUNERAL HERE.
VIEW PHOTOS OF SUNDAY'S FUNERAL HERE.
A school friend (back left) is overcome with grief as she helps to carry the coffin of one of her Friegeland classmates into church on Saturday morning.
Colin Pyl’s widow, ‘Aunt’ Daphne Pyl, is being led into the Pentecostal Church on Saturday morning, September 3.
ARTICLE: ANOESCHKA VON MECK, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD REPORTER
