Man, 23, had only driven route for three days when tragedy struck
SCENE OF SADNESS: Rescue workers and members of the public inspect the wreckage of a bus which plunged down a river bank and onto a dry river bed outside Willowvale on Saturday. PICTURE: LULAMILE FENI
THE driver of the bus which crashed near Willowvale killing 35 passengers was a 23year-old casual who had only been driving the route for three days.
The driver, Chengwa Mthintsilana, who screamed for help before he died trapped in the wreck, was in his sixth month of employment with Africa’s Best 350 Ltd (AB350), a bus company contracted by the provincial government, according to the bus company’s boss Wonga Tuta.
Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle yesterday declared the two crashes in the province on Saturday, in which 45 people died, a provincial disaster, meaning the government will provide state-funded funerals.
There has been an outpouring of offers to help bury those who died in the Willowvale bus crash and the 10 who died in a taxi crash near Cradock.
A total of 53 people died on the province’s roads at the weekend.
Prominent East London funeral directors Mandla Makinana of Makinana Funeral Services and Asaza Ncumbese of Asaza Funeral Services offered to help poor families.
Masualle said the government would help bereaved families and others affected by the tragedy.
Tuta said of Mthintsilana, from a village near Butterworth: “Chengwa was one of our casual drivers since February 7 2015 and was never involved in any accident before this horrific one.”
Tuta said Mthintsilana’s Code 14 driver’s licence was issued in August last year, six months before he joined AB350 as a relief or casual driver.
“Although the driver had only been on the KwaNgqeza bus route for three days, he was familiar with the terrain as he was operating a bus on the Mendwana route and both routes join Nkelekethe where the accident happened,” he said.
Mthintsilane took over after the driver of the KwaNgqeza route was suddenly fired. Tuta would not say why.
Tuta said the Scania FN5 bus, bought in June 2010 for R1.4-million, was roadworthy and only had 250 000km on the clock. It had been serviced in July.
He said a bus could travel more than one million kilometres.
“We are shocked and baffled about how the accident happened,” Tuta said.
Witnesses and survivors said the bus’s engine cut out before it picked up speed down the gravel Nkelekethe cuttings, went over a cliff and plunged and rolled into a river bed.
Forty-three passengers are believed to have been aboard the 80-seater.
“The bus left KwaNgqeza at 6.30am and was expected in Willowvale at 8am, but never arrived. We will do everything possible to assist in the burials,” Tuta said.
The driver’s body was the last of the 35 bodies to be retrieved.
People who rushed to the scene and survivors said the driver did not die in the impact.
Mzwabantu Sidelo said: “I am haunted by the driver’s screams for help, saying we must call ambulances.
“He was trapped. There was nothing we could do.
“All we could do was pray as we watched him dying. When the jaws of life arrived, it was too late,” he said.
Parliament portfolio committee on transport chairwoman Dikeledi Magadzi and SA Taxi Council national executive committee member Vuyani Mshiywa expressed their condolences.
“There is a need to improve the driving skills of bus and taxi drivers,” Mshiywa said.
“Drivers must always be cautious and obey road regulations. Speed kills.”
Magadzi said the number of road accidents was “alarmingly high and should not be tolerated”.
“The country should move into a culture of passenger safety by ensuring that vehicles on the road, and their drivers, are fit for the purpose,” he said.
“Road fatalities continue to rob families of breadwinners and relatives in the manner we saw over the weekend.”
Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, speaking at the East London IDZ, also expressed his condolences.
-Lulamile Feni and Bongani Fuzile
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