Thirteen people have died and 28 been left injured in road accidents reported by various officials on Saturday.
The most deadly accident reported on Saturday took place on the road between Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp and claimed four lives.
“Three people died before the arrival of paramedics. One person was critically injured and another person died on the scene due to the extensive injuries sustained,” said Netcare 911 spokeswoman Santi Steinmann.
The accident happened when a car collided with a delivery van on Saturday morning.
Three people were left dead and three injured in an accident in Limpopo when two bakkies collided on the N1 South.
The provincial roads and transport department said the accident took place on Friday night.
Another two people were killed in the North West when their vehicle overturned near Biesiesvlei.
Police spokeswoman Capt Adéle Myburgh said that the driver allegedly lost control of the vehicle on the stretch of road between Lichtenburg and Sannieshof on Friday.
Two other occupants of the vehicle were injured and taken to a local hospital.
In a fourth accident, two people were killed and eight injured after the vehicle they were travelling in overturned on the N3 near Balgowan on Saturday morning.
The driver of the Toyota Venture lost control and the vehicle rolled several times, said ER24 spokesman Derrick Banks.
The passengers were found strewn across the freeway.
In a Free State accident, two people were killed after a head-on collision on the R26 outside Bethlehem on Saturday.
The collision happened on Saturday morning when a car crashed into a heavy goods truck, said Steinmann.
In addition to the two people killed, two people were left critically injured and a third seriously injured.
An accident in which a bakkie overturned in Grahamstown on Saturday morning left 12 people seriously injured, said paramedics.
One person was injured after two vehicles collided in Tongaat.
A total of 765 people have been killed on SA roads so far this month, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) said on Saturday.
“The preliminary festive season statistics as reported by the SAPS from 1 December 2012 to 21 December 2012 is 765 fatalities from 638 fatal crashes,” said RTMC spokesman Ashref Ismail.
In 2011, 1771 people died as a result of 1316 road accidents that took place between 1 December to 10 January 2012.
The RTMC had hoped to reduce the number of road casualties this year by 25 percent.
However, Ismail said given the preliminary figures, “All indications are that this target will not be met”.
Nevertheless, the RTMC hoped to come as close to the target as possible.. -Sapa