Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, MEC for Health Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, MEC for Education Matome Chiloane, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube and Sedibeng mayor, Lerato Maloka during a media briefing on Tuesday, 20 January. Picture: Supplied/GDE Media The professional driving permit (PDP) of the driver arrested in Monday’s tragic Vanderbijlpark private scholar transport accident, which claimed the lives of 12 pupils, expired last year. The Sedibeng community has been in mourning after 12 young children tragically died in a head-on scholar transport crash on the R553 Golden Highway in Vanderbijlpark on Monday.
Gauteng police confirmed they have arrested the 22-year-old driver of the scholar transport vehicle that allegedly caused the fatal accident. Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi joined Minister of Basic Education Siviwe Gwarube, Education MEC Matome Chiloane, Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, Roads and Transport MEC Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, Sedibeng Mayor Lerato Maloka, and Emfuleni Mayor Sipho Radebe for a media briefing on Tuesday afternoon. The minister and the education MEC visited the grieving families before the briefing.
The briefing aimed to provide an update on the circumstances of the incident, outline the government’s response, and detail interventions supporting the affected families, pupils, and the broader school community. The premier confirmed that the families have identified all 12 pupils who died. Five children were injured, and two remain in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
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Lesufi said three drivers were involved in the accident: two in the truck and one in the taxi. The truck driver took himself to the hospital after the accident and has made an appointment with the police to give a full statement. The assistant truck driver was hospitalised and later discharged, while the taxi driver was arrested and will appear in court. “Based on the work done by the police, we have now established that the PDP, which is the public driver’s certificate, had expired last year in November, and therefore he was driving without the necessary permits,” the premier said.
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