“Our thoughts and condolences go out to the families and friends affected by last night’s tragedy. Your loss is ours and we grieve with you.
The really sad part of this is that it was completely avoidable.
For at least four years Cllr Crouch from Kloof, former Cllr Warwick Chapman and Cllr Tim Brauteseth of Pinetown, along with the Durban Chamber of Commerce, have been campaigning to have heavy duty trucks removed completely from Fields Hill and force them onto the N3 toll road.
Expert traffic studies, numerous letters and meetings have resulted in little or no action from the provincial Department of Transport. The MEC, Willis Mchunu, has known about this and has done nothing.
He has the power, granted to him by SANRAL legislation, to restrict the use of certain roads to certain vehicles only. He has not done anything.
The MEC for Transport in the Western Cape has used this legislation to reclassify certain roads in that province to restrict the use of heavy vehicles. Why MEC Mchunu not followed this precedent?
Yes, the vehicle may have been unroadworthy and driver error may be to blame, but the fact remains: If the MEC had listened and acted, that vehicle would not have been on Fields Hill at all.
We hold the MEC 100% accountable and he must answer for his actions”
Cllr Tim Brauteseth also mentioned that he visited the Pinetown Fire Station this morning to thank them for all their assistance and efforts. A senior officer at the station, Roger Jones, advised that since he joined the Department in 1975, he had not seen a worse accident in terms of fatalities. Shift commander Ashley Diedericks, who was in charge of the shift that handled the accident confirmed this.
