Pretoria - Moloto road bus crash survivor David Sindane believes the impatient driver of the Putco bus involved in the horrific crash that killed 30 people was largely responsible for the accident.
The 57-year-old father said the driver appeared to lose composure as the engine of the bus threatened to cut out. He said this had happened throughout the trip and indicated there was something seriously wrong with the bus.
Sindane said he was an experienced driver himself and suspected the engine was overheating.
The driver was also killed in the accident.
“I was sitting in the front. The engine of the bus was threatening to cut off and the vehicle was jerking as if it was about to stop,” he said.
Sindane said if the driver had not accelerated abruptly and aggressively, he would have been able to react better and more quickly when a truck veered in front of them. It collided with the bus at about 8.30pm on Monday, at Vlaklaagte 2 on the notorious Moloto road.
The accident left 29 people dead and eight critically injured. The 30th victim died at KwaMhlanga Hospital on Wednesday.
Sindane, who works as a driver in Pretoria, said he boarded the ill-fated bus from Marabastad at about 7pm to go home.
“As we were driving along I heard a bang. I was hit in the head and above the eye as debris flew all over the place. The pain was unbearable,” he said.
“Second mistake: the government really needs to improve its ambulance service. I was among the first three people to crawl out of the wreckage.
“There was one ambulance and paramedics could only take two of us. I had to force my way in as I was in pain. We arrived at the hospital, which was about 5km away, at about 10pm, but I was only attended to at 3am. You don’t treat people like that in an emergency situation.”
Sindane, who has commuted on the Moloto road for almost two decades and was in another accident involving a Putco bus in September, said all that he needed was his bus coupon so he could return to work on Monday. “I will continue to use Putco buses as there is no other form of transport, but I am not buying another coupon.”
He believes the area needs another form of transport, possibly a rail link. “In the build-up to elections, politicians always promise this would be done, but after the voting they disappear. They are gambling with the lives of people who drive to and from Pretoria every day.”
Johannah Mahlangu, another survivor, said she slept as soon as the bus had left Marabastad and woke up to a loud bang. “I looked around and it was a mess. That was when I realised what had happened. There was broken glass and bodies all over the place.”
Patrick Mashiane said he still could not believe that he was alive. He said he was surrounded by glass and pieces of metal. He had lost a shoe. Only while trying to find it did he come to his senses and realise they had been in an accident.
Samuel Skosana’s son, Mandla, was not so lucky. His father has nothing but fond memories for him. Skosana said: “Mandla was a good man, always smiling and understanding even when he had been wronged. I miss him dearly.”
Another man who did not reach home was Frans Masango. His uncle Hendrik Masango said he was on his way to Pretoria when he heard of the accident on the radio.
He said only when he returned home did he learn that Frans was in the bus and had been killed.
Richard Mahlangu said he had hoped his son Abraham was still alive when he was looking through the wreckage and assisting paramedics and other families to free the victims.
He said there were 15 bodies near the road when he got to the scene.
“My son was not there, but I was not immediately worried. It was only later when I went to the hospital that I learnt my son had died. Staff at the hospital said he told them his name and then died.”
Dikeledi Mahlangu, Mpumalanga MEC for Public Works, Roads and Transport, said she was shocked and saddened by the accident that had claimed the lives of so many people.
At its ordinary meeting on Wednesday, the City of Tshwane mayoral committee extended its condolences to the families of the victims of the accident and supported fresh discussions on the development of the Moloto rail development corridor.
Funeral details:
* A memorial service for those killed in the Moloto road horrific bus crash will be held at the Mabusa Besale showgrounds at Matshiding in Mpumalanga at 10am on Friday.
* The funeral service will take place at the same venue at 7am on Sunday.
* Dikeledi Mahlangu, Mpumalanga MEC for Public Works, Roads and Transport, said the government would foot the bill for the funeral, including providing two buses for each family that had lost loved ones.
* “Putco has also pledged aR17 000 compensation for each family. This will be paid after the burial has taken place,” the MEC said.
Pretoria News