COPS IGNORED WARNING - SALGAOCAR SUPERVISOR

MBABANE – Police ignored advice to stop every truck from descending Malagwane Hill before the second accident occurred, it has been revealed.

Salgaocar Swaziland (PTY) Ltd Department of Transport Supervisor Thabani Zwane informed the Commission of Inquiry that he made such a suggestion to the police after the first truck had overturned.

A truck contracted to Salgaocar that was transporting iron ore from Ngwenya to Mpaka overturned at Mnyamatsini on April 29, 2014 and blocked the roadway resulting to a traffic jam. A coal-ferrying-truck crashed into the resulting traffic and 23 vehicles were involved in the accident. It was reported that eight of the vehicles were burnt when the truck burst into flames. Three people were reported to have died as a result of the accident.

Zwane appeared before the commission set up to establish the cause of the accident that was described as one of the worst to occur in the country in recent history.
He told the commission that he was at the scene of the first accident with two police officers. One of the officers was Constable Samkeliso Tevin Ndlangamandla who was in charge of both scenes of accidents.

According to Zwane, he suggested to Ndlangamandla that since it was taking too long to tow the overturned truck from the road, all trucks that were travelling in the Manzini direction be stopped before they descended Malagwane Hill to prevent other accidents from occurring. 

The supervisor’s reasoning was that more accidents were likely to occur if trucks continued to descend the hill before the roadway was cleared.
However, Zwane alleged that Ndlangamandla did not heed his advice. Seeing that the police were not buying into his idea, the transport supervisor contacted his company to stop all trucks from leaving the site until the road was cleared. He said he even ordered a motorcyclist to stop all the iron ore trucks that had already left Ngwenya. Zwane said he was able to prevent at least eight trucks contracted to Salgaocar from going downhill.

The supervisor said some of the trucks were parked near the cabinet offices. Zwane said the driver of the Chrisilda Transport truck that was transporting coal which crashed into traffic near the foot of Malagwane Hill drove past the trucks that were parked next to the cabinet offices.

“The police did not take up the suggestion I made so I called my office to stop our trucks from proceeding with the trips due to the accident. I sent for a motorcycle to help stop our trucks.
“There were a few police officers at the scene of the accident and no one knew that an accident had occurred downhill,” said Zwane.   

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