R1-20/FREE
6 September 2013
Young teacher Two students drown dies in accident on school trip ga, but neither of them responded in time. One of the taxi’s, that was the A school was dumped into a terrible group’s official transport, took the three tragedy during a Geography trip to the girls to the Matibidi Hospital which was Lowveld. the closest to the Blyde Canyon Students from the Mohlakamotala Resort. At the hospital Mokgophi and Secondary School departed from Alma Hlongoane was pronounced dead, while during August for a fun and educational Manyanye was admitted for further two day trip to the Lowveld. Their first observation. She was released on the overnight stop was at Forever Resort following Monday. Blyde Canyon in Mpumalanga. The Post contacted the Head Master Just after 21:00 on Thursday evening, of Mohlakamotala Secondary School 22 August, three of the group’s memas well as the District Manager of the bers wandered off to a Waterberg Department of nearby swimming pool. Education. Neither one of According to eyewitnesthem wanted to speak to A cold front ses, the three girls Lerato the newspaper. Mokgophi, Bonolo HlonA teacher from the was moving goane and Wisdom Mohlakamotala Secondary over the area. Manuanye jumped or fell School, that would like to I myself jumpinto a cold water swimming stay anonymous, says that pool. None of the girls were everyone at the school is in ed into the known to be able to swim. mourning, and that everypool to try and Mokgophi and Hlongoane one is going to miss the rescue one of drowned and Manuanye two students. was rescued by a security According to Phuti the girls... guard from the Blyde Seloba, spokesperson of Canyon Resort. the Department of EducaAccording to Pieter Erasmus, General tion in the Limpopo Province, everyone Manager of the Forever Resort Blyde is saddened by this terrible tragedy. Canyon, it was a freezing cold night. “A “The MEC as well as the department cold front was moving over the area. I sends their deepest condolences to the myself jumped into the pool to try and families who have lost their children.” rescue one of the girls, and it took me When asked about the actual events, hours to get warm. I have no idea why Seloba stated that the department the girls thought that they could swim believes that it was an accident, but under such conditions,” he said. that they are conducting a full investigaErasmus also stated that the resort’s tion. Negligence of staff members that guards were alerted by an alarm going were present will also be looked at. off in one of their venues. They went to According to a spokesperson of the investigate and immediately called for Dintjie police station an investigation assistance when they saw the three was in progress. girls in the pool and realized they were An autopsy was performed on both in trouble. According to Erasmus they students, but the results were not immediately called both the ambulance made public. and Dintjie police station in MpumalanMarlene Vermaak
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The truck that was involved the accident. Photo supplied Marlene Vermaak A young teacher from Meetsetshehla Secondary School in Vaalwater was killed in a tragic accident on the road to Modimolle. Tshepo Mataung (23), a graduate of the University of Pretoria, was a passenger in a truck belonging to Makouvlei Meubels. Makouvlei Meubels owns shops in Vaalwater, Modimolle and Bela Bela. Mataung taught at Meetsetshehla Secondary School in Vaalwater. Mathematics and Life Sciences were her subject fields, and before her death she was involved with preparation for the Eisteddfod Festival that is taking place this week. Individual and group dancing was her specialty. The accident that claimed Mataung’s life happened when the truck she was in allegedly tried to overtake another car and truck and drove head first into the truck. The driver of the car said that he immediately realised that an accident was imminent when he saw the Makouvlei truck starting to overtake himself. He speculated that it is possible that the driver of the Makouvlei truck did not see the other truck’s indicator
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light, as he was blocking the back of that vehicle with his own car. After a bit of research, it was noticed that the road signs and markings on this stretch of the road were not clear enough. There are no big boards next to the road showing a major turnoff to Groenfontein Plotte. The road markings indicate a stipple line, merely 200 meters away from the turnoff, and only a very short solid line right next to the turnoff. Mr Dup Du Plessis, owner of a farm in Groenfontein, says that he has been communicating with The South African National Roads Agency for a number of months. “After numerous SMS-messages, e-mails and meetings, SANRAL still seems to ignore my plea to upgrade the visibility of this turnoff,” Du Plessis said. Du Plessis and his wife Caroline, says that they regularly send pictures of accidents happening there to SANRAL, and hope that deaths, like the one of Tshepo Mataung, can be avoided in the future. Meetsetshehla Secondary School held a memorial service yesterday (Thursday, 5 September).
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