 
MEDIA STATEMENT
MEC REVEALS RESULTS OF SWEETWATERS CRASHKwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport S'bu Ndebele has warned bus and taxi owners to adapt or get off the roads if passengers' safety cannot be ensured. Errant bus operators are in the firing line from MEC Ndebele who this week warned of a strict clampdown on public transport vehicles. In the past two weeks, three horrific bus accidents claimed the lives of 25 people, including tourists from Britain. On Sunday evening in Chatsworth a bus went down a ravine killing ten people. And a day later another bus overturned in Sweetwaters, outside Pietermartizburg killing six people. In the Bergville and the Sweetwaters crashes, traffic experts from the Department of Transport have blamed defective and mechanical problems relating to the busses, which contributed to the accident. The report for the Chatsworth crash will be available on Monday. Early this morning, visiting a roadblock between Durban and KwaMashu, Minister Ndebele called for all busses to now undergo a Certificate of Roadworthiness inspection every six months instead of once a year. At the roadblock several busses belonging to the new bus consortium Ramont/Alton were impounded. The company now runs the municipal bus service, Durban Transport. At the roadblock, which covered the Durban region only, so far (2pm) a total of 56 public transport drivers were arrested for not being in possession of the necessary operating permits and 39 busses, 16 taxis and one Toyota Venture were impounded. Further, 16 vehicles were taken off the road (suspended) for being in an un-roadworthy condition. Traffic officers charged motorists for various offences. The roadblock is continuing. Ndebele said the department would call for all the former DTMB buses under their new management contract to produce road worthy certificates and for them to produce operating certificates for the transportation of passengers, for each individual bus. Ndebele warned owners of public transport vehicles that they must adapt to the rules of the road, or face the might of the law. Among the findings of the Sweetwaters crash was that there was no rear windows that could have been used as an emergency exit, nor was there any indication as to where the emergency exit was situated; brake failure was a possible cause to the collision; from the inspection it appeared that the service brake failed as a result of air pipes having suffered blow outs. The heat blown onto the air pipes over a period of time causing substantial weakness could have caused this failure. At midday today, Ndebele also attended the memorial service for the victims of the Sweetwater's crash. He told mourners: "My department will follow the recommendation of the experts which suggested that the inspectorate for vehicle test stations thoroughly investigate whether the vehicle, was in fact, submitted for physical examination and testing when it was recorded it did so less than two months ago". "All that I tell you here today may not lessen your grief, but it will help with the answers you seek. This tragedy happened at a time when the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport is doing its best to end crashes. We say no to death trap busses. We are prepared to get even tougher on the reckless and selfish owners who are profit seekers without any value for human life."
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