Durban — The man who died when his car crashed through a wall from the fourth floor of a parking lot in a Berea shopping centre this week is believed to have had a heart attack.
He was described as family-orientated.
Aziz Ganie, who would have turned 77 in September, left his home in Currie Road to go to the Telkom store at the Atrium Shopping Centre on Thursday.
A relative, who asked not to be named, said that Ganie’s wife of 55 years had meant to go with him along with their grandson, but she changed her mind.
“I grew up in front of him. He was like a father figure.
“He was a good man. He raised his four daughters whom he was proud of. One of his daughters is a paediatric endocrinologist in Abu Dhabi. He was proud of all his daughters and what they had achieved, especially having grown up with so little.
“He and his wife were two peas in a pod. They went everywhere together,” he said.
The relative said that Ganie was not a doctor as widely suggested on social media.
He said that this notion stemmed from his car being registered in his daughter’s name, Dr Ganie.
“People were going to his (Ganie’s) neighbour’s house where the father and son are both doctors and use the surname Ganie. People had come to the neighbour’s house to tell them that Dr Ganie had died and the son went with them to the scene to find that it was not his father but his neighbour,” said the relative.
He said that Ganie had been a bookkeeper for a firm in Umbilo and had retired 25 years ago.
The relative said Ganie’s car had crashed through a part of the parking lot not used by the public. It is used to park vehicles belonging to a car rental company.
“We have since learned that there had been a vehicle that was moved just 10 minutes before Ganie’s crash. This car had been parked in the spot next to the white vehicle seen in the CCTV footage in front of the wall that Ganie’s car crashed through.”
He said a post-mortem report indicated that Ganie had sustained injuries due to the crash and had also suffered a heart attack.
The relative said the statement that was being shared on social media threatening legal action against anyone who shared the video of the car crash was not from the family.
“My thoughts on the CCTV footage being posted on social media are that while it was difficult for family members to watch, this incident was already in the news and was shared and we understand the world of news and social media,” he said.
He also said that Ganie did not commit suicide, adding that he must have suffered a heart attack just after turning the corner, heading towards the parking lot exit.
Sunday Tribune