KZN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT TO HOST PRAYER DAY

The Department of Transport Head in KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Kwazi Mbanjwa has announced that the department will hold a special prayer day at the end of May this year in the mould of the 1997 Siyabakhumbula campaign.

The department is embarking on this event due to the high number of road accidents that the province has experienced in the past month, especially in the past two weeks. The past fortnight has seen four accidents involving buses in which at least 30 people died and scores injured. These disasters took place in Ntshongweni, Nongoma, Ntwini Hill and Esikhaweni.

‘We have done our best to try and stop these terrible incidents from occurring through our efforts to educate the public on road safety. We have also increased our enforcement efforts but nothing seems to help. This is the reason why we are calling on the whole country, in particular KZN, to join us in prayer to ask the Almighty for assistance,’.

‘We can’t do this alone and we urge every concerned citizen of this country to lend a hand in keeping our roads safe by obeying the rules and employing common sense on the roads.’ says Dr Mbanjwa.

In 1997 40 000 people, from all walks of life and various faiths, gathered at the Kings Park Stadium in Durban to pray together for a solution to this carnage on our roads. This year, it is expected that over 50 000 people will heed the call to prayer.

While we are doing this we are saddened that there are other people out there who wish to say that the cause of the Nongoma bus disaster may have been the road conditions in the area.

‘On Friday morning the Minister and myself went to inspect the stretch of road on which this accident happened. We found it to be in perfect condition. It is tarred and wide enough approaching a gentle curve,’ says Mbanjwa.

It is clear however that causes other than the road conditions may have contributed to this accident.

The department is, therefore, inviting everyone in the province to attend the event at a date and venue to be announced soon.

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