Johannesburg – The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) on Sunday conveyed condolences to the families of 34 Tanzanian school pupils who died when a bus veered off the road and plunged into a gorge at Karata in Tanzania.
“We empathise with the loss of lives from the horrific crash which occurred on the same day that [16] school children were laid to rest at a heartrending mass funeral held at Verena in Mpumalanga,” Sanco national spokesperson Jabu Mahlangu said.
The lack of policies protecting vulnerable road users and promoting investment in public transportation still accounted for the African region registering the highest road fatality rates in the world, he said. “Learners on the continent are victimised because five pillars for the 2011-2020 decade of action for road safety, ie road safety management, safer roads and mobility, safer vehicles, safer road users, and post-crash response are compromised by inaction on the part of authorities.”
He called for mobilisation of partnerships for effective road safety campaign implementation at grassroots levels. “Agencies which are not delivering on the mandate to reduce the carnage on public roads must be restructured and repositioned for proactive action,” Mahlangu said.