Speed humps could have saved boy (7)
The parents of a seven-year-old boy have not been able to travel on the stretch of road where their son was fatally wounded when he was knocked down by a car.
Unathi Madonsela was struck by a light motor vehicle on Jenkins Road, Crystal Park, just after 5pm on October 20.
A 33-year-old male driver was expected to make a bail application in the Benoni Magistrates Court on October 28.
Crystal Park SAPS branch commander of the detectives, Capt Glen Whitford, said the suspect is facing a charge of culpable homicide and was also found to be driving without a valid driver’s licence.
Unathi, a Crystal Park Primary School pupil, is believed to have been picking something up from the road when the car drove into him.
His mother, Khanyisile Madonsela, was called to the scene from her home on Jangroentjie Street by a community member, who told her that her son had been knocked over.
The mother told the City Times she was shocked by the news.
“At first I thought he was joking,” said Khanyisile.
She rushed to the scene – a couple of hundred metres away – to find her son unresponsive and covered in blood.
“He was just lying there – not breathing – full of blood,” she added.
She called the child’s father, Patrick Ndlovu, who was en route home from work.
The seven-year-old was rushed to the Far East Rand Hospital in a private vehicle, but was declared dead on arrival.
According to an EMPD officer who was at the scene after the incident, around 100 angry community members started excavating four areas of Jenkins Road on the night of the incident, as a traffic calming measure.
Patrick and Khanyisile said Jenkins Road is known as a route on which many motorists speed.
Khanyisile said she signed a petition in June for speed humps to be constructed on the road.
Patrick told the City Times he feels his son’s injuries would have been less severe had there been traffic calming measures on Jenkins Road, but he said pointing fingers will not bring back his child.
Clr Stefanie Kruger, of Ward 24, said her ward committee requested the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) on six occasions to build speed humps on Jenkins Road.
The first application was made on April 24, with the last on September 28.
It was later discovered that the intended department did not receive the requests.
When the City Times visited the area on Friday, workers were placing bitumen over the excavated areas.
It is unclear whether these were EMM staffers.
Newly erected speed humps appear to have been a last-minute intervention, as they were only a few centimetres high and not constructed in a straight line.
The parents told the City Times their son was a “wonderful” boy who loved reading, swimming, movies and ice skating.
Unathi enjoyed playing Fifa on PlayStation with his father, which eventually resulted in his father buying him a Chelsea FC jersey.
He dearly loved the jersey and would wear it every day.
Unathi slept in it and even asked to wear it to the Crystal Park Baptist Church, where he loved attending Sunday School.
Patrick said it broke his heart to see his son’s lifeless body in the bright blue jersey.
Unathi is remembered by most people as “the boy in the blue jersey”.
The funeral service was held on Sunday, at the cemetery on Springs Road, Crystal Park.
The EMM had not responded to questions about the speed humps at the time of going to print.
