A BULAWAYO man who was hit by a speeding vehicle in the city centre on Thursday afternoon has died. Lloyd Mdhluli of Paddonhurst suburb was hit by a Mercedes Benz E320 along 9th Avenue, directly opposite The Chronicle offices.
He died yesterday — 18 hours after the accident — at the United Bulawayo Hospitals where he had been admitted. His brother, Ray Mdhluli, confirmed his death.
He said Mdhluli died at 11AM.
“Lloyd fought for his life throughout Thursday night in the Intensive Care Unit at the United Bulawayo Hospitals but unfortunately, he didn’t make it,” Ray said. He was hit by a driver, Rodrick Zhou, 35, of Romney Park who was travelling with two unidentified women.
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| The driver, Rodrick Zhou (circled), who hit Lloyd Mdhluli (lying on the ground) on Thursday afternoon |
“I was rushing to Bulawayo Centre to pick up some guys and we were going for soccer practice at AmaZulu Sports Club. I really can’t say what happened but I wanted to overtake a vehicle that was ahead of me when suddenly I saw two men in front of me and the next thing I had hit one of them,” he said.
Zhou, who looked confused, said he regretted driving at excessive speed in the middle of the city as it had resulted in an accident. An airtime vendor who witnessed the incident said he saw two men crossing the road and suddenly the speeding Mercedes Benz tried to overtake another vehicle. Mdhluli, who had no identity particulars, was quickly identified by a friend who was about 100 metres away from the spot.
He was a popular cellphone technician at the Bulawayo Centre and a Victory Fellowship Church member.
Three nurses in uniform, who were on their way from work, battled to stem the blood loss after they found passersby trying to apply first aid to him. They bought needles and drip from a pharmacy nearby to try and stabilise Mdhluli before an ambulance arrived some 15 minutes later to ferry him to hospital.
