Durban - After the deaths of 20 people, including 18 schoolchildren, in an accident involving a truck and a bakkie last month near Pongola, the Zululand District Municipality held a day of prayer yesterday to remember the victims.
The children, aged between 5 and 12, believed to have been pupils from various primary schools, were being transported on the back of a bakkie.
At the prayer held at Pongola Academy, mayor of Zululand Thulasizwe Buthelezi reassured the community of Pongola that they were not forgotten and the municipality had their safety and well-being in mind.
He said they had employed road-safety stewards in the municipality, some of whom are relatives of those who were killed in last month’s crash.
“We asked ourselves as the municipality: ‘What can we do to restore hope in the families that lost their loved ones?’.
“We have visited all the families and requested those without jobs to submit their CVs and we have now employed them.
“We didn’t want to just drop off food parcels, but empower the relatives to take care of their own families.”
The municipality has employed 15 relatives of the accident victims, including Nonhlanhla Ntshangase, who lost her three children in the accident – 7-year-old twins and a 10-year-old.
“It was painful to lose my children, but I am trying to accept it and move on with life without them.”
She added that being offered employment had brought her an opportunity to look to the future.
“While I know that it won’t bring back my children, it will bring hope,” she said.
Buthelezi said the new employees had been hired to bring about change in the community, especially in road and scholar safety.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube will also lead a government delegation today that will meet the leadership and community of Pongola to discuss long-term solutions to deal with road-safety issues, with a focus on truck compliance.
The provincial government said this engagement formed part of a series of interventions led by the provincial government after the fatal crash on the N2 in Pongola.
Dube-Ncube will also meet the bereaved families.
“The premier, alongside the MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison Sipho Hlomuka, will also participate in an intensified law-enforcement operation which will ensure the consistent enforcement of traffic laws in order to improve road safety in KZN,” said provincial government spokesperson Lennox Mabaso.
The truck driver involved in the accident, Sibusiso Siyaya, who is charged with culpable homicide, appeared briefly in the Pongola Magistrate’s Court recently and abandoned bail.
He was remanded in police custody until his next court date later in the month.