THE CROSS ROAD
Crucifixes on the highway to hell
● Five white crosses stand close together on one side of the N1 between Kranskop and Polokwane in Limpopo. Bound in eternal tragedy, they bear the names of those killed in an accident on February 27 2014.
A short distance along the road, another five crosses are adorned with dried flowers, wreaths and a mini truck. All tell stories of a stretch of toll road that, in the past six weeks alone, has claimed the lives of 56 people in five deadly accidents.
In the latest accident last week, 26 people died when a truck, bakkie, 22-seater bus and an SUV collided just outside Modimolle.
Rosaline Nkosi of Bochum outside Polokwane boarded the bus to Johannesburg that Friday, hoping to finish the final paperwork before her retirement.
She had spent all her years working in Gauteng, and was ready to settle down in her Avon village home with her children and grandchildren.
But Nkosi, together with her three-yearold granddaughter Rathabile, died in the horrific accident. Initial indications are that a tyre burst on the truck, which was carrying cement, and veered into the path of the oncoming bus and a white Ford Everest carrying Pierre and Erika Bantjes from Polokwane.
Bus driver Romeo Machete, truck driver Aubrey Chuene and the Bantjes couple were among the fatalities. The couple were on their way to their daughter’s concert in Krugersdorp.
The only surviving bus passenger, Thabitha Sehata, 26, is still recovering in hospital. Her father, Bartlett, told the Sunday Times on Friday it was “a miracle from God” that his daughter survived the accident.
He said: “She can recognise people but she can’t talk. I am worried because she’s badly injured ...”
Nkosi’s niece, Jane Nkosi, said: “She wanted to come home to rest and now we will put her at her eternal resting place.”
On Friday night, the N1 road claimed eight more lives in two separate accidents.
In the first accident near the Kranskop mountains, the driver of a KIA sedan lost control and collided head-on with a Ford bakkie. The second accident happened near the Sebetiela Toll Plaza off-ramp and claimed two lives.
In March 2015, the N1 claimed the life of cabinet minister Collins Chabane, 55, and two of his bodyguards when they collided with a truck that was making a U-turn.
Thousands of vehicles use the road to Gauteng and back daily, and at any given time there is a flow of heavy haulers, trucks, cross-country buses and private vehicles.
There are no visible speed traps on the road and, after Kranskop, a two-way carriageway is separated only by a solid line, no barriers. Travelling up the 260km of road from Pretoria to Polokwane this week, the Sunday Times team noticed a number of traffic officers, about 60km apart, armed with speed cameras.
Limpopo transport MEC Makoma Makhurupetje called for urgent intervention on the N1 before another tragedy strikes.
“Just a few weeks before this accident, two buses travelling from Zimbabwe and Zambia had accidents on this road and that claimed more than 20 lives. While we were still recovering from that, this now happens,” she said.
Blouberg local municipality mayor Solomon Pheedi said the N1 to Polokwane after the Kranskop Plaza was a hazard. His municipality has “agreed in principle” to give R200,000 to be shared among the families of the deceased.
Mourners at a memorial service this week said promises to improve safety were rolled out every time a tragic accident happened.
Zimbabwean Skotolo Malawu said he survived an accident that claimed seven lives in 2007 on the same stretch of road.
He fought back tears at the memorial service. “I lost my cousin there. Today I do not have the use of my left arm. I always wanted the government to do something about this road. Fatigued drivers travelling from Malawi, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe are affected by this, they are always tired.”
Resident Nkulie Mashadu said: “If you travel along the N1, you just don’t know if you will make it to your destination safely. How many more lives must be taken before the government does something?”
Last year, the Road Traffic Management Corp identified the N1 route between Pretoria, Polokwane and Beitbridge as SA’s deadliest stretch of road.
Progress Hlahla, regional manager of roads agency Sanral’s northern region, said Sanral would appoint “some of the best engineers” to study the matter.