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Baby, 2 men killed

07/05/2012 00:00:00 SAMKELO NGWENYA AND MBONGISENI NDZIMANDZE

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MBABANE - A combination of faulty brakes and overloading resulted in a kombi overturning, killing three passengers at Sigangeni near Siphocosini on Saturday evening.

The accident happened on the Mbabane-Mhlambanyatsi road, at around 7pm.

The driver of the kombi, a Toyota Hiace registered BSD 931 BH, lost control of the vehicle and it overturned.

Three passengers died on the spot near the Ntsentse Sports Ground, while 13 others and the driver, Nathi Sikhosana, 41, were rushed to Mbabane Government Hospital where they were admitted.

Other passengers are reported to have escaped unharmed.

According to sources, the passengers mainly sustained head injuries.

Among the victims who passed away on the scene was a one-year old child, an unidentified man estimated to be in his 30s and a 23-year-old man from Hlatikhulu.

According to a well-placed source, the ‘unroadworthy’ kombi was overloaded as there allegedly were 21 passengers aboard instead of 15.

A source revealed that the kombi had faulty brakes which were a serious problem.

Londiwe Simelane, a survivor whose one-year-old child died in the crash, said to her recollection the kombi was travelling at a high speed down the road.

Speaking from her hospital bed, a weeping Simelane said: "All I remember is when the kombi was going down the road at a ridiculously high speed."

She said she did not know what happened after that as she regained consciousness in the hospital.

Reporters from this publication were only able to speak to two of the admitted passengers during a visit to the hospital.

No accident cover for survivors

MBABANE - The surviving passengers have lost their accident cover because of the overloading.

The 15-seater kombi was allegedly carrying 21 passengers and three of them died.

Commenting on the accident on Saturday evening, the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ntuthuko Dlamini, first expressed his condolences to the bereaved families.

"It’s quite unfortunate that the victims are not eligible for compensation because of the overloading," he said.

Dlamini said his ministry recently introduced Public Transport Cover which compensates passengers who have been involved in accidents.

He revealed that the cover was aimed at paying out medical and funeral expenses among other objectives.

"However, the conditions for eligibility are that the public transport should not be overloaded and the driver should be sober when the accident happened," he said.

The minister urged passengers to refuse to board overloaded public transport vehicles.

SCARTCO blames driver

MBABANE - Secretary General of the Swaziland Commercial Amadoda Road Transportation Council (SCARTCO), Duma Msibi, blamed the kombi driver for overloading.

Speaking about the accident, Msibi passed his condolences to the bereaved families.

He said the driver was wrong to overload.

"We don’t condone overloading. We take the blame, as transport operators, for the overloading which resulted in the accident," he said.

Msibi said it was imperative that every Swazi should heed His Majesty’s words on Army Day, when the King warned soldiers not to find themselves on the wrong side of the law. The Secretary General advised transport operators not to find themselves on the wrong side of the law either.

Kombi owned by Sigangeni indvuna

SIGANGENI - The owner of the kombi which overturned and killed three passengers at Sigangeni is the area’s indvuna.

Charles Phazamisa Mhlanga, who is also a senior fire and emergency services officer responsible for the Pigg’s Peak branch, owns three kombis trading as ‘Gule’s Transport’ and a number of businesses around the same area.

Mhlanga said the reason the driver decided to overload the kombi was because it was the last one going to Sigangeni.

He said the driver told him that the people forced their way inside, despite it being already full.

He said he went to talk to the driver at the Mbabane Government Hospital, where he is currently admitted, after sustaining serious injuries.

"He told me that the passengers forcefully got inside the kombi, despite him telling them that it was already full.

"He said they further told him that there was nothing else they could do because it was the last kombi going to Sigangeni," he said.

The kombi allegedly ended up with 21 passengers on-board instead of the stipulated 15.

Mhlanga said the kombi was insured, but they were still to meet as a family to discuss how they could help the families of those who lost their lives in the accident.

He said most of the people who died were not from the same area. One of them was from Manzana and another one from Salem, Hlatikhulu.

‘Driver told owner brakes were faulty’

SIGANGENI - The driver of the kombi which overturned at Sigangeni, killing three people, is said to have informed the owner that its brakes were faulty.

This was disclosed by Samkelo Mhlanga, one of 18 survivors of the accident. Mhlanga, who is the son of the kombi owner, said the driver Nathi Sikhosana (30), called his father (the owner) in the morning, informing him that the kombi’s brakes were faulty.

He said the driver told his father, however, that he should not worry as the problem with the brakes was not that serious.

"He called my father informing him that the brakes of the kombi were faulty, but he assured him that he would be able to make more trips as the problem with the brakes was minor.

"This was after my father had suggested that it be taken to a garage to be fixed," he said.

He said the driver, was trying to apply the brakes when he lost control of the kombi and it overturned next to the Ntsetse Sports Ground. Mhlanga alleged that the main cause of the accident was that the kombi was overloaded but the bad state of the road also contributed.

He also alleged that in each row there were four passengers seated instead of three.

"I thanked God that some of the people survived and I would like to pass my condolences to those who lost their loved ones," Mhlanga said.