‘No races in his honour’: Grieving mother pleads for end to illegal street racing

The mother of 25-year-old Phillip Bezuidenhout,who died following a crash on Steve Biko Road, has made an emotional plea to the community that no races should take place in her son’s name. Pretoria Rekordreportsthat Frieda says that while tributes for her son have poured in, she wants his legacy to stand for something meaningful – an end to illegal street racing. “We do not want any races in honour of Phillip,” she says.

“The only thing we ask is that it stops. No other parent should have to go through what we are going through.” She pleaded with his friends not to go to races on Sunday. “Honor him, his empty place in so many people’s lives, by lighting a candle and taking a moment to think how different things could have been if there were no street races.

“Honour him by using the money that would have been spent on petrol for racing to make posters with his face on every lamppost, with the words: ‘My friend, your life was enough for us!’” “Honour him by showing that you truly cared for him, as Phillip, by not being there on Sunday. Honour his empty place in Voortrekker, just as his empty place remains in our hearts.” Phillip’s father, Tommy Bezuidenhout, echoed the family’s sentiments, saying his son was not a racing enthusiast and had no passion for cars. “He didn’t even own a car himself.

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This was a bad decision at a bad time,” he says. Phillip died after a crash at the intersection of Steve Biko Road and Booysen Street on Sunday (May 3).

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