A bus driver was arrested and the bus that he was driving with 124 passengers instead of 65 was impounded in Seshibitswe village outside Rustenburg in the North West Province on Wednesday morning.
It is alleged that the bus whose permit has no provision for standing passengers had 59 overloaded passengers most whom were learners and workers instead of the permissible 65 it had to carry. The bus was pulled over by traffic officers from the North West Provincial Road Traffic management unit at around 8:15am near the Tlokweng /Phela crossroad.
The elderly passengers in the bus were grateful that after months of complaining of being crammed like sardines every morning, the Special National Public transport Operation conducted on the directive of Minister of Transport, Dr. Sibusiso Ndebele came to their rescue.
The 52 year old male bus driver employed by Bojanala Bus Service was on humanitarian grounds escorted to offload all the passengers before he was locked up at Madikwe Police Station.
He is expected to appear in the Madikwe magistrates’ court on Thursday to answer to charges of overloading.
North West MEC for Human Settlements, Public Safety & Liaison, Ms Desbo Mohono has vowed that operations that focus on load management particularly those targeting public transport vehicles, trucks, bakkies and other private vehicles will be intensified towards the festive period as part of the national rolling enforcement plan as untold misery is caused whenever overladen vehicles are involved in road accidents.
Enquiries:
Lesiba Moses Kgwele
Tel: 018 391 0140
Cell: 083 629 1987
Fax: 018 381 0328
E-mail: Lkgwele@nwpg.gov.za
