Excessive Speed And Faulty Brakes Caused Limpopo Bus Crash That Killed 43: Minister Barbara Creecy

South Africa’s Transport Minister, Barbara Creecy, has revealed that excessive speed and an unroadworthy vehicle were the main causes of the deadly bus crash in Limpopo Province that left 43 people dead and over 30 others injured.

The preliminary investigation, carried out by the Road Traffic Management Corporation, identified multiple safety failures contributing to the tragedy.

According to the Transport Department, the driver was travelling too fast for the steep and winding mountain road conditions.

“A major contributing factor to the cause of the bus crash was the driver of the bus, who drove at a speed too high for the conditions down the mountain pass,” the department said in a statement.

Inspectors found that only five of the bus’s ten brakes were working, leaving its braking system severely compromised.

The report confirmed that the 62-seater vehicle carried 91 passengers, including 11 children aged between three and five, making it dangerously overloaded.

“It has been established that the trailer attached to this bus was loaded with baggage and personal belongings,” the department added.

Probe Launched into Bus Company and Testing Centres

Authorities have since launched a probe into the foreign-owned bus company for possible culpable homicide charges.

Testing centres that may have issued a faulty roadworthiness certificate will also come under scrutiny, according to reports from Xinhua news agency.

The bus, carrying passengers from Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Malawi, had been travelling from the Eastern Cape on Sunday evening when it lost control on a sharp descent and rolled down an embankment in Limpopo Province.

South Africa continues to struggle with a high number of road fatalities, which remain well above both global and continental averages.

The Automobile Association of South Africa (AA) has described the nation’s road death rate, averaging 14,000 per year, as ‘a national crisis’.

Serious road accidents are particularly frequent during the festive season.

During the 2023/2024 holiday period alone, 1,427 people lost their lives on South Africa’s roads, with many more sustaining serious injuries.

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