‘Death truck’ had no licence
THE driver of the “death truck” that killed 22 people in Durban this week obtained his public driving permit only 18 months ago — and the truck’s licence expired five days before the crash.
The 23-year-old driver, who has yet to appear in court, was hired by a Durban trucking company on Monday, just three days before the crash. He faces charges ranging from culpable homicide to reckless and negligent driving.
A video of the accident on Thursday shows the speeding truck obliterating a VW Jetta and two minibus taxis that were travelling through a green traffic light at an intersection on Field’s Hill, a network of roads between Pinetown and Hillcrest.
Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha said that apart from the dead, 17 people were injured critically or seriously and 14 suffered minor lacerations.
Theasen Pillay, a lawyer representing the driver, said his only injury was a bruise on a hand. “He is still in a state of shock and very distraught,” he said.
Acting President Jeff Radebe said if reports that the truck’s brakes were faulty were correct, “clearly that’s a criminal offence”.
Transport Minister Dipuo Peters has ordered an investigation, her department said in a statement.
Zodwa Cele, 55, whose 31year-old daughter Zinhle was among those killed, said she blamed herself. Cele, who lives in Kwandengezi about 25km west of Durban, had sent her daughter to Pinetown to buy groceries. “I should have gone myself,” she said.
When her daughter failed to return by nightfall, neighbours told Cele about the accident and advised her to search the hospitals. “I found her body at the mortuary,” she said.
Bulelwa Sibutha, 24, escaped with a broken arm and bruises.
“The last thing I remember was putting change into my handbag after paying the taxi fare,” she said. “Next thing I knew everything was black and people were screaming. I couldn’t open my eyes. But when I did, I found myself trapped in what remained of the minibus taxi.”
When Simpiwe Ndlela, 24, regained consciousness he was lying on the road alongside several bodies and injured passengers. He believes he was thrown out of the taxi as the truck ripped it in half.
“I’m still shaken ... I’m shocked,” he said.
DA councillor Rick Crouch said the provincial department of transport had been made aware in October 2011 of the danger heavy-duty trucks posed on Field’s Hill.
“These deaths are the responsibility of [transport MEC Willies] Mchunu and his officials for their failure to act,” said Crouch.
A DA report compiled at the time, citing eThekwini Transport Authority statistics, said that in 2010 heavy trucks accounted for 25 of the 218 accidents on Field’s Hill.