I walked past nearly a dozen bodies near the east-north gate at Ellis Park last night, hardly aware that a national disaster was unfolding.
Initially, the people appeared to be alive, so I proceeded to the main gate at the north-west entrance of the stadium. Time: 8.30pm.
Already, two goals had been scored - one apiece. Naturally, I hastened to gain entry to my designated suite inside the stadium. As I arrived, the much-awaited derby had been just been stopped - "Why?" I inquired.
"People have been killed," lamented Mandla Mvelase, my host in the SA Breweries suite. Former SABC broadcaster Putco Mufani, now PRO for Kaizer Chiefs, was on a public-address system keeping the crowd informed.
On a small TV screen, a commentator announced that nine people had died outside the stadium and seven others had died in a stampede inside.
"What?" I asked in utter disbelief.
People had begun talking in hushed tones. SABC boss Vincent Maphai remarked: "This is a disaster."
The drama unfolded. Apparently ill-trained, if not untrained, PSL security were seen carrying some of the injured in a way that suggested someone should tell them: "Back off!"
They were on the pitch, while we were seated with tears in our eyes, a fair distance away in the stands.
After Chiefs boss Kaizer Motaung and Pirates boss Irvin Khoza had explained why the game could not go on, and players and officials from the two teams formed a circle around a medical helicopter that landed dramatically on the pitch, many fans began to leave the stadium.
I joined them. The same people I had walked past as I hurried to watch the match were still lying there, many in Chiefs colours.
All of them lay in the cold of the early winter night. At that point, it had already been announced by Mufani that at least 43 spectators had lost their lives.
We bowed our heads and someone prayed for their souls to rest in peace. I looked again at the nearly dozen bodies. Paramedics were watching, clearly helpless. They arrived too late to save any of those people.
I seldom go to the stadium. Not even for my team, Jomo Cosmos, but when colleague and friend Jovial Rantao persuaded me to come along, I just couldn't let a friend down.
Then, I witnessed a disaster.