 
SPEECH AT THE MEMORIAL SERVICE OF 13 PEOPLE HELD 0N 06 MAY 2003 IN EMALANGENI BY THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT, MR. S’BU NDEBELE
Members of the Bereaved Families Last week, in particular last Wednesday, was quite traumatic. It was shocking not only because we lost the lives of these 13 promising young people but also because on the same day some of us had been to the memorial service of 14 others who died in another terrible accident in the Melmoth area the week before. As if that was not enough, the next day on Thursday, we lost 51 workers en route to a Workers Day rally in Bloemfontein. These, indeed, have been trying times. Today is more traumatic since we are gathered here to remember our fallen children – the leaders and workers of tomorrow – nothing can be as traumatizing as that. We, indeed, do ask ourselves, why did this happen? The only logical answer to this question is that this DID NOT have to happen. From the information we have gathered to date, we should not be sitting here crying over our children today. We should be thinking about the futures of these children. It is indeed, true that accidents are unpredictable. That is why we call - what are normally referred to as accidents - crashes. Therefore, eliminating the predictability from these so-called accidents. What happened in this area last Wednesday was not an accident. It was something preventable. Our numerous campaigns are exactly designed to help prevent these kinds of things from recurring. 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 directions 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). Once again, we have experienced a crash which has cost the lives of many young people. The loss of even one life is a tragedy, but the loss of 13 good people and the injuries of 24 others, is a disaster for the families- those who lost hopes for the future- for the friends and communities of those killed and injured. I stand in-front of you here engulfed not only with grief but also anger at the foolish and deliberate killing of innocent children last week. To all the families of the deceased I wish to pass my heartfelt condolences. (Akwehlanga lungehlanga! Lalani ngenxeba!) Since, last Wednesday the Sezela area has experienced a number of crashes that resulted in the loss of many lives including these learners. Most of these collisions involved drunken driving, unroadworthy vehicles, reckless and negligent driving as well as poor driver attitudes. To all the bereaved families and everyone present here today, I want to mention that between the first of May and the third of May 2003 in Umzinto area alone, the KZN Department of Transport, through Operation Shanela has made a total of 18 arrests, issued 130 charges and suspended18 vehicles. Most of the arrested were public transport operators who either were driving while drunk or driving without operating permits. Operation Shanela was established to look into such things. We will continue doing just that. That aside, we have realized that enforcement alone without engaging the taxi industry will not solve these problems completely. It is for this reason, that we have already done a pilot project in Nquthu training 150 taxi drivers and 150 taxi owners in road safety and business development management. I am proud to say that of all the people who registered for this course we have had 100 percent attendance and participation. We did this with cooperation from the local Municipality and the local taxi industry. The department has invested R1.2 million rand in this groundbreaking project- a first in the whole country - and its success has guaranteed that we will be extending the venture to other regions of KZN and to other provinces. Through this scheme, we want to change the mindset of some of our taxi operators who still do not value the lives of their costumers - the commuters. It still appears to them that the most important people are those still outside of their vehicles. The moment you get on board you seize to be important to them. They will race with you and endanger your life on board. Clearly, this does not have to be. The question is, how long are we, as a community, going to allow this to carry on? How long are we going to allow ourselves to be terrorized and petrified by irresponsible young taxi drivers? Our communities have suffered enough. Political violence killed more than 15000 people in ten years before the democratic elections. HIV/AIDS continues to ravage our population. We CAN make a difference on our roads, if we all pull together and all take responsibility for our actions. As drivers we need to be responsible especially when in charge of human lives. As passengers we need to be very aware of safe and legal travel, and not make ourselves vulnerable to abuse. To this end we have our Mpimpa Hotline for you to phone when your see something wrong happening to help prevent catastrophes such as these from happening again. You can call 086 221 1010 – your voice can save lives! The Mpimpa Hotline is manned 24 hours a day. In this way, we want to make it possible for every road user to be the eyes and ears of the enforcement agencies, and serve as ‘volunteers’ to reduce the carnage on our roads. Very soon all drivers will become aware that there are not just a few hundred enforcement officers, but every driver, passenger, commuter and pedestrian can report them for bad driving and behaviour on our roads. Thousands of witnesses will be added to the arsenal of the enforcement agencies. Just as we said never again to apartheid, let us come together again in this dark hour and put an end to massacres on our roads. Never, never and never again! I thank you.
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