Nelspruit - Twelve cash-in-transit vehicles of a company whose truck was involved in a crash that killed two people in Mpumalanga have been taken out of service, officials said on Thursday.
“The major defects in the discontinued vehicles include faulty steering mechanisms, defective brakes, electrical problems and oil leakages,” said Mpumalanga community safety spokesman Joseph Mabuza.
The department tested 14 of cash-in-transit company SBV's vehicles at the White River testing station on Thursday. Only two were roadworthy.
“The vehicles were escorted from their depot in an operation that started around 5am,” Mabuza said.
Most of them had travelled in excess of 400,000 km.
On Wednesday morning a cash-in-transit truck crashed into a bus, apparently after its bonnet popped open.
“Information at our disposal suggests that the bonnet of the cash-in-transit truck blew open and blocked the windshield of the truck while it was in motion on the Kanyamazane road,” Mabuza said at the time.
The driver lost control and the truck veered into the path of an oncoming articulated Buscor bus going to Nelspruit, knocking it off the road about 15km outside the city. Two people were killed and 113 injured.
Provincial MEC Vusi Shongwe called on business owners to make sure their vehicles were roadworthy.
“Today's operation was not only about discontinuing vehicles but also about ensuring compliance on the part of the owners of the cash-in-transit vehicles.”
He said such operations would continue in the province.
SBV spokeswoman Vanessa Sabbatini said she would comment later on Thursday.
Sapa