Sixth person dies following bus accident
The bus was transporting members of the Twelve Apostle Church from Johannesburg to Mevamhlophe in Empangeni
IT has been confirmed that a sixth person has passed away after the horror bus accident on the Melmoth Pass (R66 / R34) between Nkwalini and Melmoth on Saturday.
The bus was transporting members of the Twelve Apostle Church from Johannesburg to Mevamhlophe in Empangeni, where they were to attend the 40th anniversary of the church.
The ANC General-Secretary, Ace Magashule accompanied by the provincial government and party leadership, visited the accident scene on Sunday.
The KZN ANC expressed shock and was gravely saddened by the death of the passengers.
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The Party extended its condolences to the families, friends and the membership of the Twelve Apostle Church, for the loss of their devoted and dedicated members.
Thorough investigation
The ANC urges the Department of Transport, under MEC Mxolisi Kaunda, to speed up the investigation into the exact cause of the crash.
We call on all road users to be vigilant and responsible so that such road carnage can be prevented.
The ANC wishes those admitted to hospital a speedy recovery.
Previous deaths
While people are regularly being killed on this stretch of road, the last serious accident was in September 2013 when a bus transporting maidens from the Reed Dance overturned not far from Saturday’s accident scene.
In that incident, eight maidens and two minders were killed.
At a briefing after the 2013 accident the then Transport MEC, Willies Mchunu, confirmed that the cause of the accident was speeding.
While politicians are calling for the ‘re-engineering of the road’, previous accidents have shown that in most cases the real problem is driver error.
These include not checking the roadworthiness of vehicles, speeding and driver fatigue.
Concerns are now also being raised regarding the safety of the maidens who will be travelling to Nongoma for this year’s Reed Dance in three week’s time.
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