Pretoria residents blame metro for pedestrian death
Police have opened a case of culpable homicide, but the driver of the taxi was not arrested.
Mamelodi residents are blaming a female pedestrian’s death in an accident at a busy intersection this week on defective traffic lights.
The traffic lights were apparently damaged by protesters more than a year ago.
Tsamaya Road, one of the busiest roads in Mamelodi, came to a standstill on Wednesday morning when an unknown pedestrian was hit by a taxi while trying to cross the road.
According to eyewitnesses, the accident could have been avoided if the speeding taxi in question had stopped at the intersection on the corner of Serapeng and Tsamaya roads, near Mamelodi regional hospital.
Residents said taxi drivers no longer stop at the intersection during rush hour in the mornings and afternoons because of the damaged traffic lights.
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The lights were apparently damaged in 2016 when angry residents of Eerste Fabriek railway station informal settlement went on a rampage after their shacks were demolished by authorities.
Some residents also blamed the metro for not having fixed the traffic lights in the interim.
Mamelodi East police spokesperson Captain Michael Mbewe confirmed that an unknown woman, aged between 30 and 40, was hit by a taxi at around 06:30.
She died on the scene, he said.
Police have opened a case of culpable homicide.
The driver of the taxi was, however, not arrested.
The metro could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.
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