Police van crashes into Pietermaritzburg home

A Pietermaritzburg family got a huge shock when a Plessislaer police van crashed into their home in Snathing this week.

The police officer appears to have lost control of the vehicle on a bend and crashed into Msunduzi’s former ward 11 councillor Themba Mdlangathi’s home on Tuesday morning.

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The incident left three people who were in the patrol van injured, with the driver reportedly being rushed to hospital.

Before crashing into the house, the van appears to have hit an electricity pole and gone through a fence. It then crashed into the garage and dining room of Mdlangathi’s home.

Speaking to The Witness, Mdlangathi said: “When we heard this bang, we rushed to check what was happening.

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Fortunately, there was no one in the dining room. This incident left us traumatised. Having your house … damaged like this is heart-breaking.
He said they don’t know how they are going to fix their house.

“We were still busy with renovations before this incident occurred. The worst part is that my wife is the only person who is working now. It is going to be a mission to fix this mess. It looks likes no action will be taken following this incident. We have not yet had engagements with the police in terms of the process of fixing the house. They only told us not to touch anything,” Mdlangathi said.

He added that they are scared to sleep in the house now because of the damage.

Ward councillor
Msunduzi Municipality ward 11 councillor Sanele Zuma said it is not the first time that something like this has happened.

It worries us that the house that was damaged belongs to an elder from the area. It is not nice to wake up to find your house damaged. There are speed bumps where the incident occurred. When you approach that area, you are bound to lower your speed. We are grateful that no lives were lost.
Zuma said they are busy with a project to paint the speed bumps on the roads in the area so that they are visible to drivers.

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Police spokesperson Sergeant Sifiso Gwala said a case of reckless and negligent driving has been opened for investigation.