The image will remain etched in our minds for many years. A young mother, dressed in a red dress, slicing through the crowd in a desperate bid to identify her child, one of 11 killed on the scene of the Vanderbijlpark scholar transport tragedy. Eventually, she sits on the ground, defeated, torn, emotionally and physically depleted.
Pain hangs cruelly on her face, her legs weak and wobbly, the wreckage of what was the minibus taxi that was supposed to take her child to school lying a few metres away. She has become the face of the agony experienced by parents who lost their children in the tragedy. What started as a routine ride to school ended in a tragedy when 14 young lives were snuffed in the senseless crash.
Three later died in hospital. Eighteen children were packed in a minibus meant for 14. When the Gauteng department of education released their names on Thursday, their innocent, young faces told a story.
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One of tragedy. Of shattered dreams. Of stolen young lives.
Beyond their faces, they have names: Busisiwe Radebe, Bokamoso Bokgobo, Sibongile Madonsela, Leano Moiloa, Lesego Sefatsa, Letlotlo Katlego Makwe, Ofentse Jayden Vinger, Lindokuhle Mabaso, Pheello Motaung, Puleng Maphalla, Naledi Motsapi and Bohlale Lekekela. The names of the two who died in hospital on Thursday night had not been released when we went to print. The children were from seven schools around the Vaal area, south of Johannesburg.
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