The recent collision in Vanderbijlpark between a minibus taxi and a truck, which claimed 14 young lives, has laid bare the lethal disconnect between South Africa’s scholar transport laws and the chaotic reality on the roads. On Monday morning, Mmaki Josephine Mokhobo packed a lunchbox for her daughter, just as she had done countless times before. She watched her daughter, Bokamosa Mokhobo, a Grade 8 pupil, walk out the door.
The teenager was vibrant, a “bubbly person” who loved to dance and talk. “I saw her off that morning. She said, ‘Bye, girl, see you later’, and then I said to her, ‘Bye, bye, doll, I’ll see you later’,” Mokhobo recounted, her voice breaking.
“She was in a happy mood. I never thought this would happen to her.” Hours later, Mokhobo’s phone rang. A friend alerted her to an accident in Vanderbijlpark.
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“When I got to the accident scene … the taxi was in a horrible state, it was cut in half — there were schoolbags and shoes all around it, it was just horrible,” said Mokhobo. Mokhobo said when the vehicle arrived to fetch her daughter, “It was not full, and when I looked at it, it was in good condition. She was supposed to take the public transport, but because of what’s happening now in our society, I trusted the scholar transport because it was going to take her from the gate of her house and take her again to the school gate, so she was safe in that way.” It was only Bokamosa’s fourth day using the scholar transport.
“I was relying on that guy with all my heart to take my child to school and bring her back to me. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and it hurts me so badly. I’m broken, really, I am broken,” said Mokhobo.
What began as a routine Monday morning school run ended in a scene of unimaginable carnage after the collision between the private scholar transport minibus and a side-tipper truck claimed the lives of 14 children, leaving families and a community devastated. According to preliminary information, the minibus ferrying learners to school attempted to overtake on the freeway before colliding with the truck. The impact was catastrophic.
The man entrusted with the children’s lives, the 22-year-old driver, Ayanda Dludla, who escaped the crash with only minor injuries, made a brief appearance at the Vanderbijlpark Magistrates’ Court on Thursday morning. He faces 14 counts of murder, one count of driving without a Professional Driving Permit, one count of driving an unlicensed vehicle and another of reckless and negligent driving.
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