Tshwane bus burners get 25 years in jail

Two former Tshwane bus drivers who helped a colleague to burn a municipal bus, causing their colleague to die and a passenger to sustain serious injuries, were yesterday sentenced to effectively 25 years’ imprisonment.

Sentencing Alphius Mohlabane, 36, of Hammanskraal and Solomon Choma, 41, of Phomolong in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, Judge Bert Bam said violence in the country was costing taxpayers millions of rands and was totally unnecessary.

He found the accused guilty of murdering fellow arsonist Daisy Makeke and attempting to murder Sebola Kgaugelo by setting an A Re Yeng bus alight near the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria in October 2016.

They were also convicted on charges of destroying essential infrastructure, public violence and possession of a petrol bomb.

The accused and Makeke were bus drivers who were fired after an illegal strike and Bam said it appeared that damaging the bus had been an act of revenge. “People do just what they want. They ignore the laws of the land and people are injured and killed in the process,” he said.

Video footage of the incident showed Mohlabane and Choma entering and exiting the bus and being in close proximity to Makeke when she poured petrol in the bus. Makeke caught alight when flames broke out.

Footage showed Mohlabane beckoning for passengers to get out of the bus before it caught fire. Kgaugelo, who was a student at Unisa, was reading her book when Mohlabane tapped her on the shoulder and told her to get out.

She was busy gathering her things when flames broke out. She became trapped and lost consciousness. She spent weeks in intensive care and three months in hospital, but will never fully recover.

Bam said the fact that Makeke largely contributed to her own demise did not absolve the accused.

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