WATCH | 26 pupils crammed into taxi as MEC orders crackdown

Twenty-six pupils — including a three-year-old — were crammed into a minibus taxi in Park Rynie in a shocking case of overloading. The vehicle was intercepted by the province’s “No Nonsense” Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) team, who found the taxi not only dangerously overloaded but also unroadworthy. Officers immediately removed the vehicle from the road.

It has since been suspended, and the driver now faces criminal charges. KwaZulu-Natal Transport MEC Siboniso Duma condemned the incident, warning that such reckless conduct places lives at serious risk. “Operators who prioritise profit over the safety of our children will face the full might of the law,” he said.

Also on Tuesday a minibus taxi transporting pupils to various schools in Northdale abd the vicinity crashed injrijg nine children, three of them seriously. Duma said the cases highlights the ongoing dangers posed by non-compliant taxi operators, particularly in the scholar transport sector. He confirmed that enforcement will be intensified through RTI operations and Operation Shanela, with a focus on protecting vulnerable commuters, especially schoolchildren. While recent road safety campaigns have contributed to a reduction in fatalities, Duma said incidents like this show that dangerous practices persist.