Polokwane - Almost half of the examined Great North Transport (GNT) buses in Limpopo have failed roadworthy tests, the province's transport department said on Wednesday.
The department's Kaiso Moatane informed the African News Agency (ANA) that 22 buses belonging to the GNT fleet were impounded after failing roadworthy examinations. The fleet is 56 buses strong in total.
The examinations - commissioned by the Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters - took place at three of GNT's 11 depots, in Phalaborwa, Tzaneen, and Giyani on Tuesday. This, after tragedy struck on Sunday when one of the buses crashed, leaving 10 dead, including one child. The victims were all members of the Zion Christian Church and were being transported back home from their Sunday service when the bus overturned on the R525 road between Haenesburg and Tzaneen.
The driver, who was among the survivors, said that he had, prior to transporting the church members, informed his supervisors about faults in the bus, saying it was not roadworthy. However, the supervisors allegedly ignored his warning and forced him to pick up the passengers.
Moatane said examiners found that GNT - a wholly owned subsidiary of the provincial government's Limpopo Economic Development Agency - was not complying with national road safety standards and failed to appropriately service its fleet. He said that examiners found issues such as break failure, worn-out tyres, and leaking engines.
According to the department, investigations would continue and the entire GNT fleet examined. “The minister has ordered that intensive investigations be conducted on buses throughout and examiners will move around the province from one depot to other to see if there is compliance,” said Moatane.
Meanwhile, the Road Accident Fund has said it would work with relatives of both the victims and survivors.
GNT is fully subsidised by government to service rural areas and was established in 1996 after the amalgamation of two bus companies. In addition to Limpopo, GNT provides bus transport services in Mpumalanga and neighbouring Zimbabwe and operates a fleet of about 540 buses. According to its website, GNT adheres to its five cornerstones upon which it was founded: safety, quality, reliability, dependability, and affordability.
African News Agency (ANA)