Scholar tragedy: Five pupils killed, one in hospital after transport van crash on AZ Berman
|Published
HORROR: The bodies of the kids across the street. Picture: Leon Knipe
A dark cloud hung over Mitchells Plain as forensics covered the bodies of the four primary school learners who lost their lives in an accident on AZ Berman Road yesterday morning.
A fifth kid, who was flung out of the bakkie they were travelling in and landed under a taxi, died on his way to hospital. A critically injured Lentegeur High pupil was airlifted to Groote Schuur Hospital.
According to a source, the bakkie’s driver lost control before slamming into a tree and traffic light, causing the canopy of the bakkie to shatter.
The learners were sitting at the back and were ejected, one landing next to a Golden Arrow bus.
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said: “The 55-year-old driver was arrested on a charge of culpable homicide and will appear in the Mitchells Plain Magistrates Court once he has been charged.”
Onlookers stood in the rain while principals tried to identify the dead learners by their school uniforms, textbooks and even their lunch boxes at the scene.
The six schools affected by the crash are Wespoort Primary, Lentegeur High, Duneside Primary, Harvester Primary, Ridgeville Primary and Highlands Primary.
By midday, the parents of the deceased, who are all from Khayelitsha, had been contacted and were being escorted to AZ Berman Primary, where cries of sorrow could be heard as they received counselling.
Nomakhaya Betiwe, the mother of the youngest victim, five-year-old Lelam, tells the Daily Voice that she learnt about her child’s death through social media.
“I was at work already, I saw everyone sharing the videos and pictures on Facebook and recognised the bakkie. I immediately contacted the owner who told me that Lelam was also in the bakkie.”
Betiwe says the Grade R learner at Duneside Primary was her alles.
“She was such a bubbly, happy child, now I will never hear her voice again.”
The grieving mom said her last memory with her daughter replays over and over in her head.
“When I work early I usually don’t dress her, but this morning she was awake, so I did. She asked for a R2 and I gave it to her. I still kissed and hugged her before I left, now she’s gone,” she recalled, through tears.
MEC of Mobility, Ricardo Mackenzie, confirmed that the driver of the bakkie did not have a public transport permit and is also not registered as a scholar transport driver on any of the provincial databases.
“This vehicle was a private transaction between families, but we want to appeal to parents: we know times are tough and money is tight but please try and use a driver with a roadworthy vehicle and has got a licence to operate legally on the road, they are carrying precious cargo, they are carrying our future,” Mackenzie said.
Education MEC David Maynier, too, paid his respects, adding: “This is an unimaginable tragedy. Our thoughts are with the family, friends and school communities.”
Maynier also commented on community activist Warda Cay’s concerns regarding the placement of learners at schools outside of their areas, which she believes was a contributing factor to the accident.
According to Cay, the Western Cape Education Department should do more to ensure that learners are placed closer, and even within walking distance, of their homes.
Maynier said his department does try to ensure that children are accommodated at schools as close as possible to their homes.
“It’s not possible in every case, so obviously there are some learners who use transport, but we do endeavour to place learners at public schools close to where they live in the Western Cape.”