‘SA mourns with you’ – MECs visit families of Carletonville crash victims [VIDEO]

Two members of Gauteng’s executive council (MECs) and a deputy mayor said they share the grief of families of pupils who died in the horror car crash in Carletonville on Wednesday.

11 pupils died when a Ford Ranger collided with a Toyota Siyaya on the N12 near Fochville, causing it to overturn before it eventually caught fire. The driver also died in the accident while seven pupils are still in hospital receiving medical attention.

Ten of the deceased pupils were from Rocklands Primary School, and one was from Laerskool Blyvooruitsig.

ALSO READ: 12 primary school learners die in horror crash outside Carletonville

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the accident.

The incident saw President Cyril Ramaphosa demand more be done to protect South African children on the roads.

Uncle of four of the learners, Aviva Manqa shares his grief:

Never to be repeated

MEC for Education, Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Matome Chiloane was joined by MEC for Roads and Transport Kedibone Diale-Tlabela as well as deputy mayor of Merafong City Godfrey Mogomotsi Sello in Fochville on Thursday, where the children had lived.

Chiloane said they were there to share their condolences.

“The whole country was in shock. The country is in mourning with you,” he said, adding schools needed to ensure scholar transports were roadworthy and correctly registered.

This while Sello said the municipality was working with the Department of Education to ensure scholar transports were compliant so that “something of this nature doesn’t actually get to be repeated.”

“But if you look at the state of the road that was used on that day it was quite a safe zone,” the deputy mayor said.

“Even potholes as you drive into that road – we used that road even today – potholes have been patched and only the investigation will tell us exactly what happened.”

ALSO READ: Road crashes leading cause of death for SA’s youth

Investigations underway

Diale-Tlabela called on communities to act responsibly when choosing scholar transports, while service providers should put safety before profit.

“No child deserves to die on our roads despite the conditions they find [themselves in],” she said, alluding to the pack-to-capacity and often unroadworthy scholar transports many families have to make use of.

“The education transport services mostly are private owners and the relationship is between families and them,” she added, laying responsibility for accidents involving unroadworthy scholar transports with the private businesses that own them.

“We have our own scholar transport as led by the Department of Education and in this case it was private.”

The licence plate was destroyed when the vehicle caught fire, so Diale-Tlabela said they do not know at this stage whether it was registered. They also do not know whether the driver or owner of the vehicle had the correct permit for it.

She said the transport department will look at regulating scholar transport better, but it looks forward to the investigation into the crash being concluded.

Chiloane said families had asked for a funeral to be held for the pupil by Saturday, and the Department of Education would do their best to ensure this.