On August 25 2011, Jacob Humphreys ignored signals at a level crossing in Blackheath and found himself on the tracks of an oncoming train. A total of 10 children were ushered into eternity on their way to Good Hope Primary, an Adventist Christian school. The driver survived the crash.
He would admit previously slipping through the booms and having had two previous accidents with children in the taxi. On January 19 2026, Ayanda Dludla overtook several cars on a narrow Vanderbijlpark road and sped headlong into an oncoming truck. A total of 14 children would touch the face of God that week, several of them attending El-Shaddai Christian school.
The government spin doctors responded quickly — his professional driving permit had expired, the problem was private transport and so on. Between 2018-2022 about 800 precious souls died in scholar transport-related incidents, reported one newspaper. Three questions might help us make sense of these tragedies.
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Why has nothing been done to end these mass killings of children? One reason is that South Africans have become versed in reactive politics. Something tragic happens, politicians rush to the scene of the crime to express concern.
At the Vaal tragedy, President Cyril Ramaphosa makes a sad announcement saying, “we are pained” and remarks appreciatively that the minister visited the devastated families. “We inherited a system” he continues (don’t roll your eyes), says that we must work together to solve this problem “and look at how we can save the lives of our children”.
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