KABOKWENI – On Sunday the Mpumalanga government, in collaboration with the community and other stakeholders, held a funeral service for the 11 victims of the horrific taxi (minibus) accident that occurred on the R40 on July 25.
This was the culmination of a memorial service and prayers by various religious groups which started on Thursday at the R40/Plaston Road intersection, the spot where the accident occurred.
Prayers and condolences continued at Ntsikazi Stadium in KaBokweni, where hundreds of community members including relatives and friends of the deceased, gathered to mourn the lives lost.
In his speech, the MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Mr Vusi Shongwe, emphasised the fact that drivers should always obey the rules of the road.
He recapped all the horrific accidents he had witnessed and wished to forget.
“Today reminds me of the memorial service which was held on July 19, 2012 for 25 victims of the train/truck accident in Komatipoort. It reminds me of the memorial service of 30 victims of a bus accident in Kwamhlanga in 2013.
“It leaves my heart bleeding when I am reminded of last month where we lost 11 precious lives. Nobody deserves this. This is a violation of human rights,” Shongwe said.
“At another memorial service of our loved ones who lost their lives en masse, again as a province we have been robbed of bread-winners, fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, friends and colleagues in a very gruesome manner.
He was saddened by the fact that those who left their homes that fateful morning, leaving their loved ones behind, would leave for the last time and never return.
“The goodbyes they said to their loved ones were the very last ones and it pains me even more when I am told that human error is to blame,” Shongwe said.
“We ask ourselves what more could we do to save innocent lives on our roads and we always arrive at the same conclusion that we must enforce traffic laws even harder, with vigour and determination.” Those who attended the memorial service, all arrived with the slogan Sekwanele (enough) and Bopha (to lock up).
Shongwe urged members of the public to get involved in the efforts which law-enforcement agencies were implementing to ensure safety. “On their own, they can never win and we will continue to suffer at the hands of criminals,” he said. He called on every member of the community to be a police or traffic official on the roads and encouraged them to inform officials every time they came across something that has the potential to cause harm.
“I have instructed my officials to explore ways and means in which we can allow members of the public to report any speeding and reckless or drunken driving to the authorities and see immediate action taken. We need to find ways in which a member of the public can call a hotline number to alert law-enforcement officers about any potential danger on our roads and in locations.”
He deplored how little we continued to view the lives of those in locations and rural areas. He ensured that people’s attitude that they need not drive as carefully and observant of road signs in locations and rural areas, as they did in towns, would be dealt with.
He called on all to ensure that each and every day is a road-safety day in Mpumalanga, so that we inculcate the habit of obeying the road rules, the habit of courtesy, and a habit of patience.
“I am therefore calling into action, our established community road-safety councils and members of community at large to assist in increasing road-safety awareness in the province by participating in activities such as scholar patrols and all other road-safety programmes. Let’s activate, mobilise and combine our efforts to improve road safety,” Shongwe said.
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