Pretoria - Some of the 15 people who lost their lives during a horrific head-on collision between a bus and a truck outside Ga-Rankuwa have not yet been identified.
This emerged yesterday during a visit to the scene and families by a contingent of officials, led by Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, who had to, as a result, postpone a meeting to engage the families of the victims, during which he was to introduce them to officials from the Road Accident Fund, who were on standby to assist them with claims and offer burial support.
Mbalula said he would return to the community to engage the families on Wednesday or Thursday, to ensure that each family was updated about the social insurance support that they could benefit from. “One of the families has a father and a mother in hospital, others have become child-headed through this,” said the minister. The report from the accident should be ready for release by Friday.
“We can never emphasise enough the critical importance of responsible driving. We are working with all provinces to ensure 24/7 law enforcement on our roads.”
He visited at least 30 survivors at the Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital, some of whom he said were still in a critical condition; some he found in the Intensive Care Unit and some were due for more surgery as medical staff worked around the clock to save them.
He also said the Road Accident Fund had already stepped in to do its job, while the Road Traffic Management Corporation was looking at the accident scene with urgency, to produce a report with recommendations that would guide social insurance benefit interventions.
Mbalula offered condolences to three families during yesterday’s visit, among them the Ntshabeles, after they identified their loved ones.
Thabiso Kgoele said this was a tough time for the Ntshabele family and relatives after they lost Lenar Ntshabele, 56, from Ga-Rankuwa Zone 1 and one of their cousins Joyce Pula from Tsunami.
She said: “Lenar Ntshabele was a breadwinner in this house, and leaves behind her children Nthabiseng Ntshabele, 30, and Koketso Ntshabele, 21. We are just so heartbroken right now as a family because just as we discovered that we lost Lenar, we heard that our cousin was also in the same bus and passed on. We cannot say a lot at this stage. It is just devastating.”
Road Accident Fund chief executive Collins Letsoalo said he wanted the families of the dead and the injured to know that the agency was there for them. They should not fear coming directly to the Road Accident Fund to make their claims and find out what was on offer before going to the lawyers.
He said his team would be collecting information about all the families to ensure that they received associated assistance as soon as possible.
Mbalula said: “We are grateful to God for those who survived the tragic road crash, I visited them today (yesterday) with officials of the Road Accident Fund who are on standby for social protection benefits.”
Pretoria News