Address by the Minister of Transport, Mr Joe Maswanganyi on the occasion of the mass funeral service of the nine (9) Marulaneng Village road crash victims held at Gamasemola Stadium - Limpopo
Speaker of the Limpopo Legislature, Ms Polly Boshielo; Limpopo Premier, Mr Chupu Mathabatha;
Limpopo MEC for Transport, Safety, Security and Liaison, Ms Nandi Ndalane;
All MEC Present;
Sekhukhune District, Executive Mayor Cllr Keamoseng Ramaila; Makhuduthamaga Municipality Mayor, Cllr Minah Bahula; Mayors present;
Mosate wa Ga Masemola;
Other Traditional leaders present;
The Leadership of the ANC and ANC WL and ANCYL and other parties in parliament;
Representative of the Department of Education; Representative of the Department of Economic Development; Faith Based Leaders from various denominations;
Officials from all spheres of government; Limpopo Provincial Taxi Council;
The Bereaved families; Members of the Media; Ladies and gentlemen
As we meet here today to accompany, our parents, our brothers and sisters, to their resting place, we say to their family members, your grief is the pain of the nation. Your sorrow is our sadness.
The tragedy that befell all the diseased has devastated our nation, the government and communities of Ga Masemola and Ga Mphahlele.
On behalf of the government and the people of South Africa and on my own name, I would like to convey our condolences to all the family members of the nine (9) departed.
Programme Director, As the government of South Africa, we are here today to comfort and ease the burden of grief of those who have been robbed of their precious relatives and friends by the pitiless hand of death.
The deceased met their untimely death on the R579 at Marulaneng Village. A Mercedez Benz Truck with two semi-trailers and an Iveco Midibus collided head-on and resulted in their death and seven injuries.
This tragedy ladies and gentlemen, comes at a time in which we celebrate Youth Month, under the theme “The year of OR Tambo: Advancing Youth Economic Empowerment”.
Following in the footsteps of the 1976 Youth, who fought against apartheid Bantu Education and the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in schools, these young people, we are to lay to rest today, were direct beneficiaries of struggles waged by the 1976 youth. They dared all odds and enrolled at the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College in order to better their lives, their families and their communities. Little did they know that their lives will be cut short by a motor vehicle crash.
Road Traffic Crashes have a significant impact on the South African society. This impact is measured in terms of human lives lost, ‘pain, grief and suffering’, as well as the increasing cost to the economy.
As Government we are extremely concerned about the unacceptably high levels of motor vehicle crashes and injuries in our country.
Cabinet approved the South Africa National Road Safety Strategy which aims to stabilise the growing number of road traffic crashes and to reduce the number of fatal road traffic crashes by half over in 2020.
Human factor still remained a causal factor for most of the crashes. As we all know, this can be avoidable if we all prioritise road safety and use our roads responsibly.
I therefore calls upon all motorists to:
- adhere to the speed limit
- avoid driving under the influence of alcohol
- avoid use of cell phones while driving
- ensure that your vehicle is roadworthy
- do not cross the road where it is not safe to do so
- take regular breaks
- buckle up, safety belts save lives
When we heard about this crash, the Road Accident Fund, the consoling arm of government, activated immediate assistance with regard to funeral arrangements, the purchasing of coffins, and the transportation and storage of the deceased. The RAF has assisted six (6) of the families with funeral preparations and the other four (4) will claim from the fund including the direct claims for the injured.
Beyond the funeral services, the RAF will still be there to ensure post- crash care support through the activation of Medical Undertaking Certificates and originating for Loss of support for the deceased. The RAF will work with the families and survivors to bring about relief and ensure that claims are handled expeditiously to provide support and care for the departed families as well as to the crash survivors.
While our tongues express the sadness of our hearts, we will be doing the right thing if we honour the memory of our departed by making a commitment today that we will all be road safety ambassadors and contribute towards the United Nations Decade of Action on road safety. Road Safety is everyone’s responsibility and we all can make a difference.
Programme Director, Cabinet welcomed the release of the General Household Survey 2016, which continues to show progress in the implementation of government programmes to improve the lives of South Africans, especially the previously disadvantaged communities.
As the Department of Transport, we have commenced with the construction the Moloto Development Corridor by expanding the current road, making it more user friendly. We will be commencing soon with the construction of the rail network in the Moloto route to ensure that we reduce road traffic to rail in the three provinces of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng.
Furthermore, to ensure that we elevate rail as an alternative mode of transport, we invested R173 billion towards the modernisation of passenger rail infrastructure and services, focusing on station and depot modernisation, upgrading of signalling and overhead lines, railway tracks and platform rectification.
SANRAL is spending billions of rands in maintaining and upgrading existing routes whilst also investing in new infrastructure that will open new vistas for economic emancipation and social upliftment.
Deteriorating roads are being repaired; additional capacity is being added; dangerous segments are being eliminated; and new routes that are shorter and safer are being carved on the national landscape.
Accordingly, in the memory of the deceased, we must, together, consolidate the gains that we have made to improve the performance of our economy so that we are able to create sufficient and better jobs for our people.
We say these things, in their memory, because today we are bidding farewell to these sons and daughters of the new South Africa.
To have lost so many at one go constitutes a severe loss to all of us, and to our country as a whole.
That we lost them means that we have a task, multiplied by the number of coffins that will, today, be placed deep in the bowels of the earth that has given us, to continue the struggle that they waged, to pursue the goals that they embraced of servicing their communities.
What happened at Marulaneng Village should not happen again. Together, we must do everything we can that this tragedy does not happen again. Our government, the government you elected, will do everything necessary to ensure that we achieve our UN Decade of Action on road safety.
I would like to thank you, the families of the deceased, for the dignified manner in which in you have handled yourselves in the face of a very painful loss. I would like to thank the people of Limpopo for their compassion and their sense of human solidarity.
I would like to thank the provincial government of Limpopo, the concerned municipal authorities, and the national government for everything that has been done to respond to this tragedy.
Consistent with our traditions, let us continue to mark the passing away of those whose bodies we lay to rest today with, dignity and respect.
DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so
Robalang ka Khotso! I thank you all
