Follow up: Fatal council bus accident: No answers for families three years later
The incident occurred around 08:00 on April 6, 2021, when a municipal bus driver lost control of the vehicle, fatally striking van Niekerk, a resident of Witfield, and Mahashe, a security guard from the Ramaphosa informal settlement.
Three years have passed since a bus accident claimed the lives of Annatjie van Niekerk (61) and Livhuwani Mahashe (44) outside the Boksburg Civic Centre Clinic, yet their families remain in limbo, grappling with unanswered questions and unfulfilled promises.
The incident occurred at around 08:00 on April 6, 2021, when a municipal bus driver lost control of the bus, fatally striking Van Niekerk, a resident of Witfield, and Mahashe, a security guard from the Ramaphosa informal settlement.
Ntambu Mahashe, brother of the late Livhuwani Mahashe, expressed his family’s ongoing distress.
“We still want answers. To this day we don’t know whether the bus driver was drunk or what the cause of the accident was.
“We are still in pain and have not received any help from the metro in terms of the burial. They had promised to help us, but nothing has been done.”
Ntambu described their frustrating interactions with municipal authorities.
“The staff member working on the accident sent us from pillar to post and made empty promises. We have not been taken seriously. This is a case of culpable homicide.
“We also escalated the matter to the Road Accident Fund but were told Livhuwani’s daughter can’t benefit in any way because she is over 18.”
“The only help we received was from the security company, Lulama LL Security, she was working for, which assisted with the funeral arrangements.”
Livhuwani, originally from Limpopo, was renting in Ramaphosa at the time of her death.
She was the fifth-born in her family and was survived by a now 22-year-old daughter, who recently graduated from the University of Johannesburg with a BCom in accounting.
“Her daughter is not handling it well but has a support system from us. We miss Livhuwani every day. She was a respectful, caring mom and sister,” Ntambu said.
Van Niekerk’s daughter, Anna Elizabeth Sanders, said she still misses her mother every day.
“We are just carrying on. We have lost hope when it comes to the case. It has been years and nothing has happened and nobody is keeping us informed,” she said.
Zweli Dlamini, the spokesperson for the City of Ekurhuleni, stated that the matter has been handed over to Boksburg SAPS due to the fatalities, as they must assist with the investigation.
Boksburg SAPS spokesperson Sergeant Ntsako Ledwaba said Livhuwani’s post-mortem report is still outstanding, adding that the brakes on the bus were not faulty at the time of the accident.
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