SECOND TIME IN A WEEK: Five people killed as bus travelling to Zimbabwe overturns in SA

By The Citizen

SOUTH AFRICA: Five people have succumbed to their injuries in another bus accident in Limpopo. This is the second accident involving Zimbabwe’s cross-border buses in less than a week.

The Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety announced that a cross-border bus, reportedly travelling from Johannesburg to Zimbabwe, overturned along the N1 north towards Nyl Plaza, outside Mokopane, on Sunday.

The accident resulted in the deaths of five people—one woman and four men. Several other passengers sustained injuries of varying degrees and have been taken to hospitals in Mokopane.

MEC for Transport and Community Safety, Violet Mathye, expressed concern over the recent accidents affecting cross-border public transport operators. She appealed to bus companies to ensure their drivers are “fit for purpose”.

She said fatigue could have contributed to the accident.

Mathye sent condolences to the families of the deceased and wished a speedy recovery to the injured passengers.

This is the second bus travelling between Zimbabwe and South Africa to overturn in just a few days.

Last Tuesday, 10 passengers died in a bus accident at 3 Miles on the N1 near Makhado, just before midnight. The bus was en route to Johannesburg from Zimbabwe.

“According to reports, the bus drove over a roundabout (the last traffic circle from Makhado towards Polokwane) at high speed. It lost control and overturned, killing and injuring its passengers,” said spokesperson Tidimalo Chuene at the time.

Some victims refused hospital admission

“The bus driver is reportedly new to the job and not familiar with the surroundings.”

Following a visit to the scene, Deputy Transport Minister Mkhuleko Hlengwa said that the government was arranging with the Zimbabwean government to repatriate the bodies.

Hlengwa also raised concerns over behaviour of some of the victims. He said he was worried that some of the injured passengers refused to be admitted to hospitals. And this raised suspicions about them being in South Africa legally.

During his visit to the accident scene on Thursday, Hlengwa also visited survivors at the Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital.

The hospital said it received 40 patients on the night of the accident. It added that 35 of them have been discharged.

Hlengwa said the preliminary report from Limpopo traffic officials was that the accident was attributed to driver error.

“We are currently waiting for a comprehensive report from the Road Traffic Management Cooperation. This will enable us to investigate fully the cause of this accident.

“As transport authorities, we encourage all drivers to exercise maximum caution. This because most of these accidents which claim multiple lives on our roads are due to reckless driving and utmost disregard for traffic laws.

“It has to be noted that the consequences of reckless driving have crippling effects on our societies and the economy,” Hlengwa said.