Ayanda Dludla appears at Vanderbijlpark Magistrate’s Court on 22 January 2026 for the Vaal scholar transport crash in Vanderbijlpark. Picture: Gallo Images/Sharon Seretlo The 22-year-old scholar transport driver arrested in connection with the deaths of 14 school children in the horror Vanderbijlpark accident has abandoned his bid for bail. Ayanda Dludla appeared in the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
The matter was delayed for a shortwhile as he did not have a legal representative. He has been charged with 14 counts of murder, three counts of attempted murder, one count of driving without a valid Professional Driving Permit, and one count of driving an unlicensed motor vehicle. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Lumka Mahanjana said Dludla was first charged with culpable homicide.
“The accused, who appeared before the court this morning, is facing 14 counts of murder. Initially, at face value, the charges were culpable homicide. But when the NPA perused the docket and studied the evidence that is in the docket, we found that we have prima facie evidence to prefer murder charges against the accused.
Read Full Article on The Citizen
[paywall]
Mahanjana said there are still many investigations that the State needs to finalise. “There are still witness statements that need to be taken. There’s forensics that we still need to get the results for. So, the matter has postponed to the 5th of March for further investigations.” Mahanjana said if Dludla had not abandoned his bail bid, the NPA would have opposed bail.
[/paywall]
