One year after Field’s Hill carnage
Many families and victims of the Field's Hill crash have since forgiven truck driver Sanele May and others are reaching out to him at the Westville Prison.
LAST Friday marked a year since the tragic crash at the bottom of Field’s Hill which claimed the lives of 24 people.
To remember those who were victims of the incident and the loved ones that were left behind, the Sanele May Support Group, in partnership with the Fields Hill Helping Hands organisation, donated 40 Pick n Pay gift cards and a personal note from Sanele May. Each envelope had a R100 voucher and in the personal note May apologised and asked for their forgiveness.
The note written by Sanele (sic):
I want to say to the families of the persons who was injured and lost their life’s, it was an accident and was never my intention to hurt of kill anyone. I am very sorry about what happend. This is and will haunt me for the rest of my life.
My condolence to all the families; only God knows why he allow this terrible accident to happen in our life’s; please don’t hate or judge me; I know that God never judged or hate me so i beg of u to also forgive me. may God bring peace into your hearts.
Several families responded and have sent notes for May, while others have requested to visit him at the Westville Prison.
The Dlamini family said in a message that they did not believe the accident was his fault and they have forgiven him. The Nxlumalo family said they will never desert him as he is just a human being and what happened to him was unfortunate and they believed that it wasn’t his fault. The family said they do not blame him and instead forgive him.
Karen Janisch of the Field’s Hill Helping Hands, said; “One survivor so clearly stated to me yesterday, (Sunday 7 September) forgiveness is the highest form of love.”
Sanele May will appear at the Durban High Court again on Wednesday 17 September. For a full break down of the year since the horror crash, visit the Highway Mail website at www.highwaymail.co.za.
Highway councillors have their say:
Despite being new to his post as the Ward 18 councillor, Bruce Sutcliffe shared the same opinion as Rick Crouch, the ward 10 councillor, with regards to heavies being allowed on Field’s Hill.
“I feel that not enough has been done to minimise the risk of this happening again. It is my feeling that the use of Field’s Hill must be limited to vehicles of no more than eight ton capacity, with far harsher penalties for those found to be breaking the laws,” said Sutcliffe. “The government must also introduce severe penalties for the owners of unroadworthy heavy vehicles. It is time for government to make good on promises made as their silence creates a situation for this to be repeated.”
“We are pretty much where we were one year ago before the accident. The only changes are the signs that have been erected, and it took 11 months to get those up. None of the additional short term or long term interventions have been implemented,” said Crouch. “The community must keep the pressure on the MEC to ban all trucks on Field’s Hill, there should be more protests and take the protests to his office in Pietermaritzburg. In this country and city we should start practicing more proactive legislating and far less tombstone legislation.”
Both councillors expressed their condolences to the relatives of those killed and offered prayers for their grief at the time of remembrance of their loved ones.
