A 44-year-old taxi driver, facing two charges of culpable homicide after two schoolchildren were killed when his minibus caught fire, was granted bail in the Nebo Magistrate’s Court in Limpopo yesterday (May 20), reports Polokwane Review.

Details of the fatal fire

On May 13, Mogau Mosehla was allegedly transporting 22 children between the ages of seven and 10 when his Toyota Quantum minibus taxi caught fire while travelling on the Apel Cross Road, via the Tswaing gravel road towards Nkotwokwane Village, in the Sekhukhune District.

In addition to the deaths of two children, seven others were injured. Thirteen were not harmed.

The two children who died were both Grade R learners at Mannyetha Primary School.

They will only be formally identified following DNA results.

Overloading and traffic charges

Police said the driver is facing two counts of culpable homicide and charges linked to alleged contraventions of the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996, including overloading and failure to produce an operating certificate.

Mosehla was granted bail of R6 000, and the matter was postponed to August 21.

Growing concerns over scholar transport safety

Scholar transport safety was thrust into the spotlight when a dashcam recorded shocking footage of a head-on collision between a truck and a taxi transporting learners to school in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng.

The accident claimed the lives of 14 children, while the 22-year-old driver was charged with 14 charges of culpable homicide.

Yesterday, The Witness reported on an accident in Durban in which a taxi transporting schoolchildren overturned on Old Richmond Road in KwaDangezi.

ALS Paramedics spokesperson Garrith Jameson said multiple children were injured and transported to hospital.

In March, the SABC reported on the death of one child and 14 who were injured following a taxi accident in KwaMashu, north of Durban.

KZN police spokesperson Robert Netshiunda said the children involved in the crash were between three and four years old.

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