By Nathi Olifant and Ingrid Oellermann
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport on Tuesday suspended the service of SA Roadlink, a major national luxury bus company, in the province following a horrific accident that claimed 12 lives and left at least 30 injured on Christmas morning.
The accident happened at 4.40am on Sunday when the bus swayed sideways before hitting a bridge pillar on the N3 near the Liberty Midlands Mall in Pietermaritzburg.
Road Traffic Inspectorate spokesperson Rajen Chinaboo said yesterday that SA Roadlink had been suspended in KwaZulu-Natal because of roadworthiness-related factors dogging the company's vehicles.
Chinaboo said the inspectorate was also investigating the possibility that the driver had been caught with an over the legal limit of alcohol in his blood last year.
In the wake of the accident, a major blitz on buses was initiated yesterday, with more than 77 buses being stopped and checked for defects.
The inspectorate reported that 18 buses, including five |belonging to SA Roadlink, had been impounded for being unroadworthy. Chinaboo said the companies affected had been informed of their buses' suspensions, and had been told to make alternative arrangements for the stranded passengers. Most of the suspended buses had defective brakes.
"In most cases no relief bus |arrives because the owners (of the suspended buses) are aware that none of their fleet is roadworthy.
"We often check the relief bus, and if there are any defects we also impound it," he said.
SA Roadlink declined to comment on the accident and the suspension of its buses, and the company's website was not operational.
KZN Transport MEC Bheki Cele said officials from his department had met the SA Roadlink management two months ago.
"This was because of complaints about these buses. So I've asked the legal department to look at what we can do about these buses," Cele said. He promised to send experts from the inspectorate to SA Roadlink's depots to inspect their buses before they left the company's premises.
The website hellopeter.com, on which users log complaints about or laud the service offered by businesses, currently has 25 complaints directed at SA Roadlink.
Pietermaritzburg police said the driver of the bus involved in Sunday's accident was expected to appear in court today to face charges of culpable homicide.
The driver, who is believed to be from Durban, survived the accident without any serious injuries.
The head of Pietermaritzburg's police Accident Unit, Capt Dolf Otto, said on Tuesday that police were still investigating several allegations and possible further charges against the bus driver and/or SA Roadlink.
The driver was tested for alcohol in the wake of the accident, but was not under the influence, said Otto.
The wreckage of the bus would be fully examined by a team of experts, he added.
At least 30 passengers on board the 66-seater double-decker bus were injured, 12 of them seriously.
Nine adults, and three children between the ages of seven and 14 years, were killed.
Police Supt Joshua Gwala said the names of the dead would not be released until it was certain that all their next of kin had been informed of their deaths.
He said the victims were from around the country.
"They were en route from Johannesburg to Durban when the accident happened, but some were planning to get off the bus in Pietermaritzburg," said Gwala.
In the wake of the accident, passengers reported to police that they had noticed the bus was "not travelling straight" and that something was wrong.
This was just a few kilometres before the bus would have reached its destination in the capital.
Moments later the bus veered out of control and struck the pillars of a bridge opposite the Liberty Midlands Mall.
Chaotic scenes followed as the traumatised passengers milled about crying while emergency services battled to treat the most seriously injured.
Police reported that two sisters were among the dead.