Neesha Maharaj|Published
Phoenix student, Sarah Govender, who died after she was allegedly run over by a speeding taxi, was laid to rest on Saturday.
Her parents, Seelan and Jenny Govender, described their daughter’s funeral as ‘the hardest day of our lives’.
“I cannot believe I have to lay you to rest today. It feels like a bad dream that I wish I could wake up from. My heart is broken into pieces and I don’t know if I’ll have the strength to let you go.
“My baby girl you were taken away from us too soon. You had your whole life ahead of you with so many dreams to fulfil,” said her distraught mother Jenny.
They said they were calling for justice, and hoped police would arrest the driver.
Speaking at her funeral, her older sister Leeandra Rajesh described Sarah as a bold individual who stood up for her beliefs.
Rajesh had moved to China a month ago to teach, and had to travel back to South Africa after being told about the tragedy.
“If you knew my sister you knew she was impossible to forget. Sarah was bold. She spoke her mind. She stood for what she believed in and did it with a kind of grace that made you listen. She was never afraid to be herself.
“And then there was her smile. Her beautiful smile lit up anywhere she went. No matter what she was going through she had a way of smiling that made you feel that everything was okay even if she was not okay. I know I will miss her smile more than anything else.
“Sarah was a humble person. She never wanted the spotlight. She celebrated others more than she celebrated herself. She was caring in the most chilled sense,” said Lehandra.
Lehandra indicated that her sister’s legacy was not only being there for people going through major life moments but her many small gestures touched people’s lives,” Rajesh said in her tribute.
Eighteen-year-old Govender from Trenance Manor in Phoenix was walking in the vicinity of the Gateway Theatre of Shopping with her friend at about 7am when she was knocked by a taxi and dragged for 20 metres.
The incident occurred at the corner of Canegate and Armstrong Avenue, Umhlanga, on October 8.
Govender was taken to hospital and later succumbed to her injuries.