 
SPEECH AT THE MEMORIAL SERVICE OF LESLIE MANYATHELA 0N 14 AUGUST 2003 BY THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT, MR S’BU NDEBELE
Masters of Ceremony Why is life so cruel? I am sure that this is a question most of us today are asking ourselves. I know it is certainly a question the Manyathela family, the Orlando Pirates football club players, management, fans and the entire soccer fraternity asked themselves upon receipt of these ghastly tidings about Leslie. This province, country and indeed this continent are certainly familiar with such occurrences. It is not too long that we have shed tears for some of our prominent members of society. Just the other day we heard of the terrible road crashes involving, our dear Comrade Simiso Nkwanyane. Indeed, we can in the same breath be asking ourselves – Where is King Moshoeshoe of Lesotho? It is estimated that over six thousand people die everyday from HIV related illnesses. The cure for this malady has still not been found. Scientists are still battling to find a vaccine for this dreadful virus and say it may still take another decade before a cure or a vaccine is found. Every year we loose just over ten thousand five hundred (10 500) people on our roads. However, unlike this HIV scourge, we have the remedy, the cure and the vaccine. The question posed at all of us is whether or not do we wish to prevent this carnage from ravaging us further. As a country we seem to think less of the dangers that can afflict us on the road. Unlike most people who practice safe sex, most still do not see misbehaviour on the roads as a virus that will ultimately kill them. ‘Slow Poison’ used to be the pet name with which we called this fallen hero. It is ironically, that this is the very ‘slow poison’ that has killed our hero and many of our countrymen and women. I refer to road crashes as slow poison because, like HIV, the poisoning can take long to claim its victim. We learn bad driving habits from our parents, brothers, sisters, relatives and role models. We even have people who glorify these bad driving behaviours. How often do we hear people bragging about how fast they had driven between Johannesburg and Durban? How often do we see people quickly putting on safety belts as they approach a road block or see a traffic police officer ahead? How often do we witness a driver breaking a traffic law but remain silent about it? It is this silence that I refer to as a slow poison and a cancer that eats away at our population. News reports speculate that Leslie Manyathela had not had a seatbelt on and had been fatigued when the crash occurred. Off course, we will and we can only speculate on what may actually have contributed to this terrible event. Nonetheless, the writing is on the wall. An old African saying says ‘it is the living that close the eyes of the dead’ but I say it is the dead that open the eyes of the living. It is sadder when the deceased are the ones that could have closed our eyes when our time has come. Losing someone so young and full of potential is like suffocation. Losing such a young soul tears my soul apart. It is time we went back to the drawing board. I think it is time for us to go back to basics. Our survival as a nation clearly depends on every one of us taking care of themselves on the roads. It is said ‘take care of the cents and the Rands will take care of themselves’. It is also time for all of us who have been driving for such a long time to reevaluate and check our driving habits. Do we, for instance, indicate when we change lanes? Do we wear seatbelts regularly? Do we check our vehicles every time we set off on a journey? Do we obey the basic rules of the road? It does not take a rocket scientist to observe these life-saving rules but why do we neglect them? Just imagine if all of us had obeyed the rules last year, last month, last week and yesterday. We would certainly not weep for this young man today! This solemn occurrence is indeed a way of opening our eyes. Like the impeccable striker he was on the soccer field, we need to be more meticulous about how we remember Mr. Manyathela. We should alter our driving behaviour with immediate effect. If we do that, I think it will be a fitting honour for this national hero. I know that many people will be going to his funeral this weekend. My plea and prayer is for everyone to be very careful on the roads. We certainly do not need a repetition of this grisly event. I stand in-front of you, here, engulfed with grief at the lost of this son of the nation. To the Manyathela family I wish to pass my heartfelt condolences and to say I know your pain. (Akwehlanga lungehlanga! Lalani ngenxeba!) 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 other 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 you see something wrong happening to help prevent catastrophes such as these from happening again. Please call 086 221 1010 – your voice can save lives! The Mpimpa Hotline is operated 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 butchery on our roads. Never, never and never again! I thank you.
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