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Mugabe: Calls to review immunity SIYABONGA MKHWANAZI
VALLEY OF DEATH: The scene of the accident in the Msunduzi Valley near Cato Ridge, KZN, in which at least 19 people died yesterday. BERNADETTE WOLHUTER
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RIES of sorrow echoed through the rolling hills of KwaXimba, near Cato Ridge in rural KwaZuluNatal, yesterday afternoon. Hundreds of people were gathered at the spot where hours earlier a minibus taxi – packed full of churchgoers on their way to the Sunday morning service – careered off a bridge and plunged 15 metres down an embankment. By late afternoon, the death toll from the horror crash was sitting at 19. The accident took place on the main road in the Msunduzi Valley area around 9.30am. The Department of Community Safety and Liaison in KwaZulu-Natal posted on its Facebook page that the driver of the minibus had lost control of the vehicle and it rolled several times. “As per the disc, the vehicle is certified to carry 16 passengers. However, it was ferrying 26 people, including the driver,” the department said. “The minibus was overloaded by 10 people.” MEC Mxolisi Kaunda visited the scene yesterday. He said his department was compiling a report, but that initial investigations indicated that the minibus’s brakes were not in good condition. Kaunda said most of those who had died were women. The SAPS Search and Rescue Unit, state paramedics and private ambulance services were all at the
19 die in 16-seater minibus plunge scene. ER24’s Russel Meiring said they found the minibus lying on its roof at the bottom of the embankment. “A total of 15 bodies were found lying around the vehicle. Paramedics assessed the patients and found that all 15 had already succumbed to their multiple injuries,” Meiring said. Members of the community had rushed a number of the survivors to the local clinic immediately after the accident. Meiring said they treated several patients at the scene and at the clinic. Five had sustained critical injuries. “Unfortunately, after a time, three succumbed to their injuries and were declared dead,” Meiring said. Later in the day, another person died. Robert McKenzie, spokesperson for KZN Emergency Medical Services, said they had treated a total of 12 patients with critical and serious
injuries. SAPS spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said police were investigating. The ANC in KZN labelled the crash a “sad and painful tragedy”, adding that the suggestion that the minibus was overloaded was “concerning”. “The ANC further calls on law enforcement and other authorities to swiftly investigate the causes of this carnage and to act decisively on any act of negligence or recklessness. “The ANC also calls on all taxi operators to be more vigilant and adhere to the rules of the road and take safety precautions seriously to avoid the unnecessary loss of life,” the party said. “Our public transport vehicles cannot be turned into moving coffins. Passengers should also be vigilant of any wrongdoing and must not allow their lives to be endangered by being coerced into boarding overloaded taxis.” The DA in KZN said it was “deeply saddened” and offered its condolences to the families and friends of those who had died. “We urge all motorists to please be safe and vigilant on our roads. It’s heartbreaking that we lose so many lives on our roads, yet urgent action is never taken to prevent crashes from taking place this frequently,” the party said. In April, 19 children and the driver died when a minibus taxi collided with a truck at Bronkhorstspruit in Gauteng.
Pictures: Doctor Ngcobo
Woman’s family are all killed BERNADETTE WOLHUTER When Nomthandazo Ngcamu saw her father’s lifeless body lying in the dust, her first instinct was to run over to him. She thought he was asleep. “I wanted to go to my dad and wake him up,” an emotional Ngcamu said yesterday afternoon, “but the police stopped me.” Ngcamu lost four members of her family in the horror crash at KwaXimba, near Cato Ridge, yesterday morning. The accident left a total of 19 people dead. Among them were Ngcamu’s father, Fano, 86; her brother, Siyabonga, 41, and her two sisters, Zodwa, 56, and Zanele, 54. They were on their way to the Zion kwaNkonyane Church, where Fano was a reverend, when they were killed. Ngcamu would have been with them, had there been space on the minibus.
“But there wasn’t, so I said I would take my car,” she said. She was just about to leave, when she got news of the accident. “My sister-in-law called me. At the time, she didn’t know if the people in the crash were from our church or not, but she had heard there was an accident and she said the victims were wearing our church colours,” she said. “I drove straight there.” Her father’s was the first body she saw. “Then I saw my two sisters on the side, and I could see my brother’s face
too,” she said. “I just cried.” Ngcamu’s mother died in January and she said she did not know how she would go on. At 38, she was the youngest of her siblings. “They all worked, my brother has left three children. The oldest is studying next year,” she said. She said her family was still in shock. “They say everything is a part of God’s plan but this, I don’t know…” her voice trailed off. “I just pray their souls rest in peace.”
Her father’s was the first body that Ngcamu saw. NIGHTMARE: People comfort each other at the scene of the crash.
Two Amcu leaders assassinated in Marikana over graft LINDILE SIFILE lindile.sifile@inl.co.za
THE Marikana community in North West is lving in fear after two leaders linked to alleged union corruption were assassinated. Zingisa Mzendana, 30, who was among 28 people that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) recently fired, was gunned down on Thursday morning at a car-wash, a day after the Marikana Massacre commemoration at Wonderkop Koppie. Mzendana was Amcu’s 4 Shaft branch secretary and Lonmin’s engineering assistant before the union expelled him and 27 others last month, for bringing the union into disrepute. This was after they exposed alleged corruption committed by Amcu’s shop steward
Pair were expelled for bringing the union into disrepute Malibongwe Mdazo, who was killed in Mooinooi two weeks ago. Mzendana had uncovered the alleged corruption by illegally gaining access to Mdazo’s work e-mails at Lonmin, where they were employed. The company fired him in June and he allegedly rejoined NUM (National Union of Mineworkers). North West police have made no breakthrough in Mzendana’s murder probe. “The victim was allegedly shot by a male whose identity is still unknown. At this stage, no one has been arrested,” police spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone said
yesterday. He did not have the details of Mdazo’s slaying. The expulsions and the killings have created uneasiness, fear and divisions among Amcu members in Marikana, with many refusing to speak out, fearing victimisation. There were even fears before the commemorations that the expelled group would disrupt the events. The day before, Amcu’s Rustenburg region co-ordinator Patrick Moepadira, warned organisers not to be influenced by outsiders. Amcu has been the majority union in Marikana since 2012, when it took over from the NUM days before the deadly Platinum belt wage strike. It gained prominence after its president Joseph Mathunjwa entered the negotiations. People who spoke to The Star
anonymously said the tensions were tearing Amcu apart, leaving an opening for Numsa (National Union of Metalworkers of SA), whose pamphlets were circulated in the community recently. One of the expelled members, who did not want to be named, said he decided to resign from his job at Lonmin and all union activities out of fear for his life and that of his family. “Amcu is now divided between people opposing corruption, who were also behind Mzendana and
those at head office who supported Mdazo. “This has created a splinter group. Amcu’s leadership is aware of this, but they seem to have chosen Mdazo’s side in the matter. Mathunjwa is only good at mobilising and not at problem-solving.“The situation is getting volatile in Marikana and politics here comes with the spilling of blood. Most of us resigned from our jobs, because we don’t feel safe.” Another mineworker and Amcu member said the union needed
a leadership change, for unity to prevail. “We’ve lost the unity we once had. We are not free to talk about these things and our national leadership does not want to listen to us. “It’s been five years, the leadership has not changed and we don’t know why,” said the member. Amcu’s Rustenburg region chairperson Jack Khoba dismissed any allegations of unhappiness among Amcu members in Marikana. @lindilesifile
THE POLITICAL fallout over the granting of diplomatic immunity to Grace Mugabe has led to civil society groups and opposition parties pushing for a review of the decision in the high court. The DA and AfriForum said yesterday Grace would not be let off the hook after she flew back to Harare yesterday morning with her husband, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. She was granted diplomatic immunity by the South African government. AfriForum’s legal representative, Willie Spies, said Grace’s departure was not the end of the story. And Parliament’s chairperson of the portfolio committee on international relations, Siphosezwe Masango, said they would discuss the matter in the ANC’s study group tomorrow. He said they hadn’t had time to discuss it since the furore began, and tomorrow’s meeting should come up with a decision. AfriForum chief executive Kallie Kriel said they would launch a review application of the government’s decision to grant Grace diplomatic immunity. “If the review application is successful, and there are good grounds to believe that such an application will succeed, the doors will be open for the National Prosecuting Authority to prosecute Mrs Mugabe,” said Kriel. If the NPA refused to prosecute her, their private prosecution unit would begin with the private prosecution proceedings, he added. The DA said Parliament must institute a full-scale inquiry into the matter. DA chief whip John Steenhuisen said they wanted all the ministers involved in granting Grace diplomatic immunity to be hauled before the inquiry. He said it was inexplicable how the government could have allowed the first lady to leave. Steenhuisen said it had done exactly the same thing when it allowed Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to leave the country when there was an international arrest warrant out for him. Somadoda Fikeni of Unisa said the latest developments would have implications for the government and on whether Grace would be able to return to South Africa. “It will depend how the two countries have handled the matter. If it leads to court cases, that will complicate the situation. But if she successfully challenges the case, she will still be allowed to come back into the country,” said Fikeni. But he said this would not make things easy for the government of Zimbabwe in how it deals with the situation. South Africa has strong trade ties with Zimbabwe, which is South Africa’s largest trading partner in the region. Meanwhile, in a statement relating to the diplomatic immunity granted to Grace, Dirco cited reasons for pardoning her and allowing her to fly back home as part of maintaining good intergovernmental relations within the SADC region and between SA and Zimbabwe. It said according to the country’s diplomacy act, Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane had the powers to enter into an agreement in the conferment of immunities and privileges in the interest of South Africa. Dirco also highlighted that it had granted Grace immunity after it had taken legal considerations, including a directive that acknowledges the immunity of spouses of heads of state. – Additional reporting by Noni Mokati See Pages 2 and 7
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