Johannesburg - The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) has condemned the reckless driving and mob justice incident in Pietermaritzburg in which six pedestrians died and a bakkie driver was stabbed to death on Friday night.
"We urge communities to report crime to authorities in the criminal justice system instead of taking the law into their own hands," Sanco national spokesman Jabu Mahlangu said on Saturday.
On Friday night, six pedestrians were killed and seven others were injured when a bakkie smashed into them on Edendale Road in Kwashange in Pietermaritzburg.
ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak said that shortly after 8pm paramedics from ER24, EMRS, and other services attended the scene where they found a bakkie that had crashed into the pedestrians.
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"The driver of the bakkie was found with fatal injuries. It is understood from bystanders that members of the community allegedly stabbed the driver to death shortly after the incident. Five pedestrians were found with fatal injuries. There was nothing that paramedics could do for them and they were declared dead on the scene."
Another pedestrian was in a critical condition and later succumbed to his injuries on the scene. Seven other people were treated on the scene for injuries ranging from moderate to serious before being transported to a nearby hospital for further medical care. The cause of the accident was not yet known, Vermaak said.
On Saturday, Mahlangu said barbaric, horrendous acts that undermined the rule of law would only lead to lawlessness and a vicious cycle of violence. He appealed to motorists to drive with extreme caution to reduce the carnage on public roads. “Road safety is the responsibility of all road users,’’ he said.