Accident scene ‘vultures’ must stop stealing, says Minister

KZN Transport Minister S’bu Ndebele has warned those opportunistic thieves who steal in road accident scenes.

Ndebele has described the act of stealing from people with broken bones, bruises or even the dead as a manifestation of the worst form of inhumane acts in our communities.

The outcry about criminals turned "vultures" by pick-pocketing people who are involved in road carnage follows what Ndebele witnessed after a bus accident in Chatsworth that killed at least ten people and left many injured. Criminals helped themselves to loot, including stealing wallets and cell phones of the people in pain and the dead.

Addressing the media at Edendale Hospital where he visited victims of a recent Sweetwaters bus accident in Pietermaritzburg, Mr Ndebele said this kind of behaviour was totally immoral and against the spirit of ubuntu that his Department was working hard to instil amongst communities.

"We know that there are many people who are hungry out there but that cannot be an excuse for pick-pocketing people while suffering injuries and even the dead bodies. If you use that five minutes of looting in helping injured and trapped people, more lives could be saved," Mr Ndebele said.

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