Bus accident victim’s family says metro has failed them
The deceased brother, Ntambu Mahashe, said they still owe the funeral parlour that buried their sister money.
The family of one of the two women killed outside the Boksburg Civic Centre Clinic in April claims the metro has failed to fulfil its promises.
Livhuaani Mahashe (44) and Annatjie van Niekerk (61) died when a municipal bus driver lost control of the bus and hit them while they were queuing to go into the clinic just after 07:00.
The Mahashe family told the Advertiser the metro has failed to financially assist them with burying Livhuaani, as they promised.
Her brother, Ntambu, said they had to negotiate with a funeral parlour to bury their sister and there are still outstanding amounts.
“We didn’t have enough money to bury my sister, so we sought help from the metro and they agreed to assist us to cover some of the burial costs. Since we buried my sister on April 11, we haven’t received anything from them.
We feel let down, as the Mayor Mzwandile Masina told us they will assist but nothing has come forth. The only contribution we received was from the security company that my sister worked for.”
The victim’s brother said he was in communication with a woman from the mayor’s office who was assigned to assist the family, and she apparently confirmed there was a donor who wanted to assist with the coffin.
“It’s been months now and we haven’t received anything. We have been left in the dark because we don’t know if these donations were paid out or not. What’s worrying is that we still owe the funeral parlour,” Mahashe said.
When the Advertiser requested comment from the second family about whether the metro had reached out to them, Dennis Sanders, a spokesperson for the van Niekerk family, declined to comment.
Investigations
Concerning the investigation report about what caused the municipal bus to lose control and crash, metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said he would need to find out whether the report has been released.
The police are investigating two cases of culpable homicide. According to Boksburg SAPS spokesperson Sgt Ntsako Ledwaba, the police are still waiting for an investigation report into the state of the brakes of the bus.
“The docket hasn’t been taken to court because they are still waiting for post-mortem results. Statements have been taken from the family of the victims,” Ledwaba said
Metro responds
The mayor’s spokesperson, Phakamile Mbengashe, said the Mahashe family requested the metro assist them with an amount of R75 000.
“The family was in contact with someone who works in the mayor’s office. She communicated to them that this amount was too much for the office to cover. It was explained to them that budgets have been reduced due to the revenue shortfalls created by the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Mbengashe.
“An amount of R15 000 was paid to the Van Niekerk family before the funeral of their family member. No money was however paid to the Mahashe family because of the high cost of the funeral invoice (R75 000). Our liaison in the mayor’s office requested the family to get a cheaper quote for the funeral from a service provider, however the family said they are sticking to the R75 000 invoice and nothing else.”
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