 
SPEECH AT THE MEMORIAL SERVICE OF 14 PEOPLE HELD 0N 30 APRIL 2003 IN MELMOTH BY THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT, MR. S’BU NDEBELEMembers of the bereaved families Last Monday, on Family Day, friends and families of those about whom we are gathered here today thought nothing of such an occasion as this one. Even on Tuesday morning families and friends thought of times to come, a future, during which they would gather again and enjoy one another’s company. After spending the Easter long weekend with their families all that they focused on was on getting back to their work and getting on with their lives normally. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, this was not to happen. Such is the nature of accidents, unpredictable and painful. It is indeed, true that accidents are unpredictable. That is why we call - what is normally referred to as accidents - crashes. Therefore, eliminating the predictability from these so-called accidents. What happened in this area last Tuesday was not an accident. It was something preventable. Our numerous campaigns are exactly designed to help prevent these kinds of things from recurring. Today, is a very sad day for the communities of the Reserves of Dubeni and Biyela, Makhasaneni, Ekuthuleni, Empangeni, Eshowe, Melmoth and Babanango, this region, KwaZulu-Natal and the entire country. It is also of particular sadness to the Vriendscap Boerdery Farmers in Babanango, by whom most of these people were employed. Once again, we have experienced a crash which has cost the lives of many people. The loss of even one life is a tragedy, but the loss of 14 good people and the injuries of 46 others, is a disaster for the families- those who lost breadwinners- for the friends and communities of those killed and injured. This is especially painful for people such as Mrs. Buthelezi to whom this incident has dealt a double blow through the death of both her husband and son. No matter how many words of condolences we may utter today, the pain that Mrs. Buthelezi and all of us gathered here feel will never diminish nor disappear. What remains is for us to do something about these kinds of things. We can do something about preventing more friends and families from perishing in crashes such as these. Interviewed on national television, the truck driver said that he had reported the faulty brakes of the truck to his employer weeks before the fateful day but nothing was done. Compounding the matter is that the truck was carrying not less than 71 people. Our research tells us that over 60 percent of tractor drivers and over 50 percent of farm truck drivers are unlicensed. These people will not be converting their licences by today because they simply do not have them. As we have done with the taxi drivers, we intend doing so with these farm drivers. We will come in and assist in the upgrading of the drivers – no questions asked. We are not interested in why they had been driving illegal but we wish to make them safe and legal drivers. My department will move region by region, in the province, accelerating the speed with which these farm drivers will get tested for learners and drivers licences. Last week, I called upon the KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union and the Departments of Transport and Agriculture to put their heads together to resolve the issue of farm-worker-transportation. This call was made to solve the problems that beset our farming communities. This call was made for us to solve the problems not to create new ones. I committed my department to assisting farmers and the workers in improving the issues around the transportation of workers. This commitment I still make today. It is not an issue of black people or white people alone but is an issue of life or death for PEOPLE. I am glad that the MEC for Agriculture, Mr. Dumisani Makhaye is also here with us today so that we can roll our sleeves together and get to work in solving this issue. May we remember those that passed away… (the list has been compiled from the deceased IDs. It is only 14 people NOT 17 as the media said last week.) NAMES OF THOSE WHO DIED IN THIS CRASH
For these 14 people and the 55 that escaped with their lives and their bosses, that trip by truck was a means to get back to work after a long weekend especially because public transport was scarce at that time. As we sit here today, eight people have already been buried and six are to be buried this weekend. One person is still to be claimed by his family to be buried. Our hearts reach out to the families of these victims. So often we see bakkies and trucks carrying loads of "human cargo", and often they are driving perilously close to or over a safe speed. We must move into a new era and recognize this sort of transport as not being fit for human beings. In the old South Africa, where people were often treated badly, this sort of behaviour was tolerated. But in our new democracy, how dare we continue treating our most precious resource, our own communities, this way! As we stand here today and remember those who lost their lives, their families and friend, and we see among us those who were injured and escaped death, we commit ourselves to making concerted efforts to ensure that tragedies such as this do not happen again and again and again in our province. 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 like this from happening again. You can call 086 221 1010 – your voice can save lives! As pedestrians, we need to ensure that we walk in a manner with as little risk as possible. I wish to thank the emergency services, the traffic officers, Melmoth protection services and the farmers who came to the rescue of the injured in this crash. Without your speedy assistance more people could have died in this crash. Let us all remember that one death on our roads in one too many! You can make the difference. I thank you.
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