POLICE, GOVERNMENT TOO QUIET ON KOMBI DEATHS

Sir,

 The recent deadly accidents along the Mbabane-Manzini corridor raises serious questions which I do not believe have been adequately answered by the commissioner of police. For a moment, just put yourself in the shoes of one of those who died in these accidents. You are a normal, law-abiding member of the public who decides to take a kombi from  point A to B on an ordinary day.

You wait at the bus stop get on the kombi and put your faith in the abilities and judgement of the driver. Some minutes later you are dead. Was it your fault? Not at all. The commissioner, after offering his condolences to the victims’ families, claims it was due to ‘some wet patches on the road, the rainy season and the heavy traffic due to the holiday season’.

He then referred to other challenges that the police were facing and ended by wishing everybody a happy new year. This shows a wish to divert attention away from the kombi crash deaths and a marked callousness in changing the subject. He did not mention any investigations or steps that will be taken in order to ensure that this situation should never   arise again. This is an unacceptable state of affairs. There has been no commitment from the head of government to hold an inquiry and make positive reforms either.

Accounts of the crash describe a sort of race between two rival drivers who were anxious to get to the next group of passengers first. So people’s lives are put in direct danger by the immature, irresponsible race antics of so-called drivers many of whom are barely out of school and whose abilities and credentials must now be seriously questioned.

Added to this chilling information is that they were prepared to play this ‘race’ out in very wet and deadly weather. They have no concern for the safety of their passengers. It is obvious that if you use public transport in this country you are taking your life into your own hands. This is a human rights issue, as the passengers are completely innocent victims of a potentially deadly transport system. And why were these drivers ‘racing’? To satisfy the daily financial demands of the shadowy ‘transport owners’ who expect thousand of Emalangeni per day from their employees. What kind of a system is this? And what does the transport ‘amadoda’ say?

They have been very quiet and by not speaking out, show their complicity. There should be an acknowledgement that there is little or no regulation in this industry, but that an inquiry into the reckless behaviour of these young drivers will be undertaken and that the vehicle owners will be investigated and made to answer for these senseless deaths. Only then can the families of these innocent victims fully grieve, in the knowledge that their relatives’ deaths have not been in vain.

Ray Finlay
MBABANE.

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