Crash victims mourned
Flowers are laid out on a table near to where government officials sit at the memorial service for the nine people who died after two taxis collided in Lindelani. Pictures: Jacques Naude Flowers are laid out on a table near to where government officials sit at the memorial service for the nine people who died after two taxis collided in Lindelani. Pictures: Jacques Naude
The taxi driver who fled the scene of an accident that claimed nine lives, including that of a five-month-old foetus and a Grade 9 pupil, is still at large and is not a registered taxi driver with the Lindelani Taxi Association.
This is according to the deputy chairman of the Lindelani Taxi Association, Richard Madlala.
He and various KwaZulu-Natal government officials were attending a memorial service at the Pholani sports ground in Lindelani yesterday for the nine people who were killed in the accident on Wednesday last week.
Ganeliso Majola, 21, Gladys Mncwabe, 63, Ayanda Mnikati, 28, Bagcabile Mhlongo, 52, Khulekani Mbanyana, 37, Jabulisile Mbatha, 55, Eunice Mzimela, 48, Lwazu Mzimela, 16, and stillborn Thulani Xulu died after two taxis collided on the corner of Mfolozi and Khangela roads in Lindelani.
Madlala said the driver was related to the owners of the vehicle.
“The boy took the taxi when the driver did not show up that morning. He is not a taxi driver. We have copies of all licences belonging to our drivers,” he said.
Madlala said although he did not know the driver personally, he estimated that he was in his early twenties. He said he was not sure whether he had a driving licence.
Taking a hardline stance on the incident, Transport MEC Willies Mchunu said he wanted to know what the driver of the taxi was running away from.
Mchunu had also visited survivors of the crash at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital on the day of the accident.
According to Mchunu, more than 50 people died and 443 have been injured in motor accidents in KwaZulu-Natal from the beginning of March to the beginning of April.
“KwaZulu-Natal needs some sort of intervention when it comes to road accidents,” he said.
Mchunu said KwaZulu-Natal had become well-known for all the wrong reasons, topping all provinces when it came to motor accidents, HIV infections, hijacking and murder.
“Every year in December, we prepare ourselves for what we have dubbed Christmas road accidents, like Christmas causes the accidents in KZN,” he said.
A passionate Mchunu stressed that accidents did not just happen on their own and that people caused accidents.
He said the sooner people understood that speeding killed people, “the sooner our roads can be safer”.
Also speaking at the memorial service, which was held close to where the accident happened, the head of the Department of Transport in KwaZulu-Natal, Chris Hlabisa, said: “The matter is still under police investigation, but the (police) report said the vehicles were well maintained.”
He said four people died at the scene and the others died in hospital.
One driver died at the scene of the crash, while the other had fled.
“Police are hot on his heels. You can run, but you can’t hide,” Hlabisa said. - Daily News
anelisa.kubheka@inl.co.za