MBOMBELA – Motor-vehicle accidents claimed no less than 16 lives on provincial roads this weekend. Five of these fatalities occurred in the Lowveld.
Lowvelder was at the scene of a horrific crash on the N4 on Friday night which claimed the lives of two occupants. It occurred near the Sudwala turn-off at about 19:00.
Although the cause of the accident has not yet been confirmed, Mr Joseph Mabuza, spokesman for community safety, security and liaison, told the paper that the driver of a Toyata Tazz appeared to have lost control and swerved into the lane of oncoming traffic.
“The Tazz was travelling in the direction of Mbombela when it collided with the trailer of an empty tanker,” Mabuza confirmed. The driver and one of the passengers were declared dead on the scene.
Three more people, including the driver of the tanker, were rushed to hospital – two of them in critical condition.
The MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Mr Vusi Shongwe once more pleaded with motorists to exercise due care and use the road with heightened vigilance to curb fatalities.
He said road safety is everyone’s responsibility and wished those who were injured a speedy recovery.
Accidents in Mpumalaga over the weekend
• Two sedans collided head-on on the R568 between KwaMhlanga and Vaalbank on Saturday at around 18:00. Eight people died on the scene. Five of the deceased were occupants in one sedan while the other three were in the other. At the same scene, a bus and a BMW sedan crashed into the wreckage and left five people seriously injured.
• In another accident on Saturday, three people died on the R571 between Mananga and Komatipoort near Naas.
• The driver of a light delivery vehicle also died on Saturday in a separate accident on the N4 near Vosman when he lost control of the vehicle and it overturned.
• In another incident between Emalahleni and Vandyksdrift, a vehicle overturned and one person died. Three more people passed away in various accidents across the province since Friday.
According to Mabuza, the police are investigating cases of culpable homicide.
