Four members of a family in Binga have died while three have been hospitalised after drinking smuggled alcohol in South Africa where the sale of alcohol is banned since March.

The tragedy was confirmed by Ms. Takesure Ndlovu, a relative to the four deceased, who told Sunday News in an interview that the official cause of death had been listed as alcohol poisoning. She said:

It is being said that seven people passed away but that’s not the case. There were many people who drank the alcohol but seven got sick. Out of the seven, three managed to survive.

So four passed away and no one else has succumbed to what they drank. These are all people that are members from one family that are related in different ways.

When they found alcohol, they gathered each other as family and started drinking because as a family you share everything as one person in a foreign place. That’s how they died as members of one family.

The seven men, who are from Chisawu under Chief Sinamagonde and were residents in Doornfontein, Johannesburg are said to have bought the alcohol from a man who is believed to be a fellow Zimbabwean.

The dealer is said to have disappeared following the death of his customers. The deceased were identified as Sumukai Ngwenya, Khumbulani Tshuma, Takoniwa Tshuma, and Jealous Tshuma.

More: The Sunday News