South Africa: 9 people killed in road crash after attending a ruling party election rally

By Associated Press

CAPE TOWN: Nine people were killed in a road crash in South Africa on Sunday after attending an election rally by President Cyril Ramaphosa and his ruling African National Congress party.

The ANC supporters were traveling on a bus back to their home province of Mpumalanga the morning after Saturday’s rally in the eastern city of Durban, the ANC said in a statement. The bus left the road and overturned, police said.

Emergency services said a further 17 people were hurt in the crash near the small town of Paulpietersburg, around 360 kilometres north of Durban.

The ANC said that a number of the injured were in a critical condition. Provincial ANC officials were traveling to the crash scene and to the hospitals where the injured had been taken, the party said.

The ANC officially launched its election manifesto at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday in front of tens of thousands of supporters.