Thulisile Mapongwana
The Enyobeni tavern inquest continued on Friday with the testimony of a 21-year-old patron who lost her cousin in the tavern tragedy where 21 minors died.
An emotional Zingce Sanarhana told the court how she tried to resuscitate her cousin using CPR when she found her lying on the tavern floor after the chaos had subsided.
“I saw Esinako lying on her stomach on the floor. I ran to her and turned her over. I felt her pulse on her wrist and neck, and she didn’t have one. I put my ear to her chest — still nothing.”
“I opened her mouth to do CPR, and I noticed that her tongue had turned purple. The bouncers were of no help — instead, they advised us to leave the bodies as paramedics were on their way.”
She continued her testimony from Thursday, telling the court she had been accompanied by Esinako and Sisipho, along with their driver and his friend, to the all-black/pens down party hosted by DJ Cish at Enyobeni.
After partying on the balcony, Sanarhana said she headed down the stairs looking for the bathroom, but instead found herself trapped with other patrons in the hot and overcrowded tavern.
“I saw someone closing the door. They were wearing a mask — I assumed it was a bouncer.”
Sanarhana said she was confused about why that person would close the door when everyone was screaming to get out.
“I do not know what caused their death, but if the door had been open, I do not think 21 children would have died inside.”
When asked by evidence leader, Advocate Luvuyo Vena, how she had come to attend Enyobeni, the young woman said it had widely circulated on Facebook that many scholars in Scenery Park would hold their pens down party at the tavern.
During cross-examination, tavern manager Siyakhangela Ndevu hammered on the fact that these people had decided on their own to crash his tavern to conduct their own event alongside the all-black party without informing the owners, preventing them from better preparing to handle the crowd.
Ndevu also reiterated that Sanarhana’s statement had only been collected this week.
“Before we began with the inquest, we were told of the order of proceedings. As the inquest unfolds, it is concerning to see other unlisted witnesses coming forward because they are not in the documents we were given.”
“It makes me suspicious of the evidence brought forward by the witness, as it was taken on 1 April this week, and it might be fabricated,” he said. He also questioned how the court could find her evidence admissible after she had listened in on the proceedings this week.
However, Magistrate Mvuseleli Malindi informed Ndevu that because it is an inquest, “We are on a fact-finding mission, conducting an investigation — there is nothing wrong with statements being taken throughout the inquest.”
Sanarhana said she was back on the balcony when the door finally opened. “When someone opened the door, two people collapsed, followed by two more, and the bouncers held hands so those pushing in would not trample on them.”
She also described the chaos of “everyone looking for those they were with. On the floor, there were bodies of the deceased, others were strewn on the tables, others had one shoe on their feet.”
She said vagrants had also robbed the bodies of the deceased.
Unlike previous witnesses, Sanarhana said she never smelled any pepper spray-like substance in the tavern.
The source of the pepper spray allegedly inhaled by most patrons is unknown. However, former bouncer Thembisa Diko had conceded to using pepper spray on patrons outside, but only earlier in the night.
While being taken through images of her deceased cousin for identification, Sanarhana broke down periodically.
On Monday, the inquest will proceed with the court viewing video footage evidence of the horrific incident of 25–26 June 2022.
