MBOMBELA – A truck driver who was responsible for the death of 24 people when he failed to stop at a railway crossing, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment this morning.
George Mandlazi (33) had previously pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced in the Gauteng Circuit of the High Court. Judge Ms Nomsa Khumalo said Mandlazi’s personal anguish couldn’t undo what had happened and that the victims had lost their lives in the most gruesome, horrific manner.
She then sentenced him to 10 years for 24 counts of culpable homicide, of which three were suspended for five years. For the charge of reckless and negligent driving, he received three years which would run concurrently.
Khumalo also suspended his code 14 drivers licence for one year.
Mandlazi was on his way to Tulloh Farm with 47 seasonal fruit pickers on July 13, 2012 when the accident occurred. Twenty-four people died a horrific death and 31 witnesses, including some of the survivors, were subpoenaed by the state to testify against him.
Khumalo read through the testimonies of the witnesses like Mr Samuel Langa (37), who had been seated in the front of the truck next to the driver. She said he had testified that Mandlazi had been distracted as he was talking to a female passenger. He added that he did not stop at the railway crossing. In Mandlazi’s statement he admitted to failing to stop at the crossing.
Khumalo added though, that when asked by the Correctional services social worker, Mandlazi stated he had stopped, and then that he was unsure whether he had stopped. She said, during sentencing, this had to be clarified by his defence.
She stated that Mandlazi had no previous convictions and was unmarried but was supporting a girlfriend and his child.
According to Khumalo, he had been unable to sleep or eat just after the incident, and still suffered from flashbacks of the accident.
She said Mandlazi had admitted that his conduct had been negligent and as a result people had died and many were injured. In his statement, he also said he was extremely sorry for what had happened and for the lives lost as a result of it.
Khumalo said the majority of the families seemed to have forgiven him and did not hold grudges against him as he himself was part of the accident and had lost family. She said others had found it difficult to forgive him as some had been left without the breadwinners in the family or had been orphaned.
