Durban - The driver of a taxi that killed 15 people in a horror crash at the Sappi factory near eMkhomazi at the weekend appeared in the Scottburgh Magistrate’s Court on Monday. The case was adjourned until next Friday.
Gcina Langa, 32, was charged with 14 counts of culpable homicide and drunk driving. A further count may be added as another victim died in hospital later. Eleven of the dead were women going home from work.
Transport department head Sibusiso Gumbi told grieving families at a nearby community hall on Monday that it was heartbreaking that so many of the victims had been mothers.
However, he said that this year had not been the worst for accidents in the province.
“There has been a reduction of 33.6 percent compared to other years,” he said.
Transport spokesman Kwanele Ncalane said that the taxi’s roadworthiness had expired last June, and that it had been “tested in Eastern Cape, which brings into question why drivers prefer testing vehicles out of KZN.”
Sabelo Mkhize said he had seen the taxi speeding: “It hit the boom gate and crashed.”
Mkhize said the driver had pulled himself from the wreckage and had wanted to flee.
“I told him to take charge of his negligence,” Mkhize said.
Two injured passengers were taken to Scottburgh hospital. Another is being treated at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in Durban.
Langa is in custody.
The Mercury