 
MEDIA STATEMENT
NDEBELE URGES COMMUTER VIGILANCEThe KwaZulu-Natal Department MEC for Transport S’bu Ndebele has called on communities and taxi associations in the province to stamp out the apparent foolhardy bravado games played by some young taxi drivers at the expense of passengers. This call follows yesterday’s horrific head-on collision between two minibus taxis ferrying school children and teachers back home. According to several eye witnesses, who were also victims of the crashes, the accident was allegedly caused by the reckless behaviour of the two taxi drivers. The drivers were allegedly involved in some game in which two vehicles going in opposite direction pretend to be crashing head-on but before they crashed they would swerve back to their lanes and proceed with their journeys. This sordid practice is apparently called "UkuGeyima" (literally meaning gaming in IsiZulu). ‘I have been seriously traumatized by the sight of incident and the fact that these children’s futures have been messed up, all because of some game. How long is the community going to allow young, irresponsible taxi drivers to play Russian roulette with their lives? asked Mr. Ndebele. The MEC has spoken to the KwaZulu-Natal Taxi Council to ensure that each association affiliated to this body does a peer regulation process to stamp out this practice. Mr. Ndebele has also asked the broader community to report such reckless behaviour to the KZN Department of Transport’s Mpimpa Hotline 086 221 1010. The hotline was launched two weeks ago to enable road users to report road transgression to authorities easily. Which ever taxi is reported playing this game with people’s lives its driver will have his/her Public Driver Permitted suspended immediately, says Ndebele. ‘Should the information we gathered yesterday, be true I feel that the police should charge the surviving driver with 13 counts of murder and 24 counts of attempted murder not culpable homicide. The community must stop being timid about such harassment. I am surprised that no one notified the traffic officers on the roads, the department of transport or called the Mpimpa hotline to report this. If that had been done I am sure this disaster would not have happened,’ said the MEC. The MEC pleaded with the communities across the province phone the Mpimpa hotline to report taxi drivers who engage in this dreadful game and other dangerous practices such as speed, overloading etc. We wish to have those names by Tuesday, 06 May 2003 before we go to the memorial service for these people, says the MEC. ‘I call on you, the community of KZN to help stop this carelessness in its tracks before another accident happens. Our traffic police will also increase their vigilance to stop this malice,’ says Mr. Ndebele.
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