Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

Speaking candidly from their family home in Ladysmith, the family said the soldiers were mere trainees and their lives shouldn't have been put in danger by using live ammunition.

Nhlabathi, 20, was one of nine soldiers who died when a 35mm MK5 anti-aircraft gun went haywire during a training exercise. Another 15 soldiers were injured and some lost limbs in the accident at the Lohatlha training grounds near Kimberley nine days ago.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota told the National Assembly that the incident was an accident and said families of the soldiers should refrain from speculation until a high-level board of inquiry, appointed by the South African National Defence Force, had looked into the incident.

The inquiry will be chaired by two retired generals. Prior to the incident, technicians had just finished repairing the weapon.

Walking into the Nhlanbathi family's home last week there was a sense of numbness and disbelief. They are devastated by the death. Three of her aunts, her grandmother and her three elder sisters were mourning in the living room.

They sat on mattresses, with blankets over them, and a candle was burning in the corner to signify their mourning. They struggled to hold back their tears as they talked about their loss.

Sebenzile completed matric in 2004, just 16 years old, with a distinction in geography. She had plans to study social work but due to a lack of money she spent the following two years at home.

One of her older sisters, Nomphumelelo, a nurse, was saving to send Sebenzile to university when the military recruited her.

"Though I was not happy about her working in the military, we accepted it because it took the pressure of saving for her education off us," said Nomphumelelo.

In January Sebenzile wrote a military entrance exam in Durban and a few days later she got a call saying she was being deployed to Kimberley. She left home on January 7.

Her eldest sister, Thobile, said she tried calling Sebenzile after the evening news reported that nine soldiers had died at a training exercise in Kimberley, but her phone was off. She then called Nomphumelelo and told her about the incident and said she couldn't get hold of Sebenzile.

The following morning the sisters tried frantically to get hold of their younger sister, to no avail. Late on Saturday afternoon two representatives from the Ladysmith Military Base went to the family's home to deliver the bad news.

The siblings lost their mother a few years ago and their father died in 1999. They have since been living together in their home in Ladysmith township of eZakheni. Sebenzile was the youngest of four girls.

"Sebenzile had a love for life and there were so many things she wanted to do with her life, I should have rather died in her place," said a devastated Nomphumelelo. A trust fund has been set up in an effort to gain public financial support for the families of the soldiers.