Picture: Gallo Images / Jaco Marais
An unlicenced driver will spend the next decade in prison after nine children died when the minibus they were in plunged into a river two years ago.
The children were between the ages of four and 12.
Elukwatini Regional Court in Mpumalanga sentenced Nkosinathi Sibanyoni for culpable homicide on Monday.
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The court heard that Sibanyoni was responsible for ferrying pupils to and from school at the time of the incident in February 2022.
“It was heard in court that he parked the taxi that he was driving between Dundonald and Mayflower near Elukwatini,” police spokesperson Colonel Donald Mdhluli said.
“The said taxi was occupied by the children and it was later discovered that safety measures to prevent the vehicle from moving [were] somehow not taken into consideration by the driver.
“So at that time, he took one of the children and was busy enabling the child to cross over the road when the taxi he left unattended… plunged into the nearby river, resulting in the nine children losing their lives.”
An investigation was conducted, leading to the arrest of Sibanyoni, who was put on trial and convicted.
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The Acting Provincial Commissioner of the police in Mpumalanga Major General Zeph Mkhwanazi indicated that the sentence should serve as a deterrent to others who might consider driving scholar transport vehicles without licences.
“The threat to road safety, including that of children on our roads remains a concern in our society hence the efforts by the state to address this situation, including the arrests of anyone involved in unwarranted or illegal issuing/receipt of driver’s licences,” Mkhwanazi said.
After 11 pupils died in a scholar transport accident in Carletonville in July, Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Kedibone Diale-Tlabela as well as deputy mayor of Merafong City Godfrey Mogomotsi Sello said the province was looking at improving scholar transport regulations.
They referred to the packed-to-capacity, unlicenced and often unroadworthy scholar transports many families have to make use of.
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