Mbalula meets North accident grieving families

“It is better when a person dies of a sickness because you would have had a chance to prepare yourself for their passing.”

These were the words of Mabuze Makwe, who lost his sister-in-law Yvonne Bokaba (59) in the horror crash on the M17 road last Friday.

Bokaba was the breadwinner for her family of five, her husband and three kids.

The M17 head-on collision between a bus and a truck claimed 15 lives.

The families of the deceased gathered at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University on Wednesday to hear from Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula and other government agency representatives what assistance they would offer.

Makwe said he had just arrived home from the gym around 07:30 when he was called to the scene.

“Imagine your wife or husband wakes up in the morning, you take them to the bus stop and they say ‘see you later’ but a couple of hours later you receive a call that they are no more,” he said.

He said when he arrived at the scene, they were sent to the government mortuary in Ga-Rankuwa to identify their loved ones.

“When we got there, they were on stretchers inside body bags; we had to identify them and it was not easy.”

“To everyone that lost a loved one in that accident, I want to say may God be with you in this difficult time.”

Makwe said Bokaba “left behind two boys, one girl and an unemployed husband”.

Jan Tlou, who lost a brother in the accident, said his brother had recently gotten a job after being unemployed for some time.

“Everyone at home was depending on him, now he’s gone.”

He urged everyone who lost their loved ones in the accident to accept that God is the only one who has the answers.

Sassa gave all the families a once-off R3 950 grant to help them during this difficult time.

Mbalula also appointed a team from his office to help them claim against the Road Accident Fund.

Mbalula said the accident shocked South Africa and he was expecting a report on what happened on Friday.

“I do not want to blame anyone. We have instituted an investigation as required by law to determine the cause of the accident. We will get that report on Friday and make it public. The report will also give us recommendations [on how to prevent these accidents].”

He urged those who carry the responsibility of driving people to work in busses and taxis to be extra careful on the roads as some of the commuters are breadwinners.

“Some of those families are headed by women. Children end up having to take responsibility for adults because of an accident, one which could have been avoided if we followed the rules.

“Let us not do things that can bring us to this situation. The lives of our people cannot be cheap, people cannot just die in vain.”

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