Loading 21 passengers onto the back of a bakkie was a recipe for disaster.
So says Cosatu Provincial secretary Malvern de Bruyn, after 21 workers were injured after their bakkie crashed outside Klapmuts on Tuesday evening around 7pm.
It is unknown where the bakkie came from and whether the workers were farmers or construction workers.
De Bruyn says the issue of transport for workers in rural areas needs to be urgently addressed.
Department of Health and Wellness spokesperson Byron La Hoe says the accident happened on the N1 at Klapmuts in the direction of Cape Town near Klipheuwel at about 6.38pm.
La Hoe reports: “One light motor vehicle involved, a bakkie, overturned with 21 patients on board.”
He said three people were seriously injured, seven had minor injuries and 11 slight injuries. No one was killed.
Mobility Department spokesperson Ntomboxolo Makoba-Somdaka says: “A preliminary report suggests that the cause of the crash is due to a tyre burst but a full investigation is under way. Minister Isaac Sileku wishes the injured passengers a speedy recovery.”
Meanwhile, De Bruyn is calling for an end to loading labourers on the back of bakkies “like animals“.
He says: “We will reach out to the Labour Department and find out what happened and what measures will be put in place and deal with the matter.
“We can’t wait for more deaths before they decide to deal and act against employers who think our workers can travel on a bakkie or a truck.
“If need be we are going to campaign against the employers who are still making use of bakkies and trucks to drive employees to work and home.
“It’s shameful what they are doing to these workers who are desperate for work. And they are treated like animals.”
The Cosatu official says these employers know that nothing will happen to them because they know that the Department of Labour doesn't have the capacity to deal with such cases.
He says most rural employers employ foreigners who don’t know labour laws.
De Bruyn adds: “Foreigners will take any job and any rate of pay. They are desperate but our people know there are laws that govern them. And the employer will tell the foreigners if they complain they will fire them.
“We need to deal with the illegal, undocumented of workers and also employers making use of bakkies and trucks.”
A video shared on Facebook shows paramedics attending to patients, some laying on the grass and some sitting up.
The bakkie is on its roof and wedged in between wire fencing while the crushed canopy lays metres away.
In December, a truck transporting more than 70 farmworkers in Philadelphia overturned, killing three.
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za