JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Lydenburg | Thursday
SOUTH African authorities are to prosecute the 41-year-old bus driver who survived a horrific accident on a treacherous mountain pass in Mpumalanga that claimed the lives of 26 British tourists and their local tour guide last year.
Mpumalanga provincial police commissioner Eric Nkabinde said Titus Phillip Dube would be charged with culpable homicide and reckless or negligent driving after a detailed one-year forensic investigation into the tragedy.
All nine British tourists who survived the accident suffered serious injuries, while Dube fractured his spine and broke a leg.
The accident, on the Long Tom Pass near historical trout fishing town of Lydenburg, was initially attributed to brake or mechanical failure. A police forensic investigation failed to detect any significant mechanical defects, however, and reported that the luxury tour bus appeared to be well maintained and had received a full service four days before the accident.
Nkabinde said Dube had been summonsed to appear in the Lydenburg Regional Court on December 1. No evidence will be led at the court appearance, but Dube will be expected to apply for bail after a trial date is set for early next year.
Dube has repeatedly insisted he did nothing wrong, and attributed a series of long skid marks near the accident scene to brake failure.
One set of skid marks measured almost 50m, beginning roughly 200m from where the bus plunged off the Long Tom Pass and rolled down a ravine.
Investigating officer Superintendent Hannes Davel said at the time skid marks were usually associated with speeding, but was unable to confirm eye-witness accounts that the bus was travelling at almost 130km/h, or twice the legal speed limit, just before the accident.
Hazyview resident Nic Krugel told journalists the bus narrowly avoided side-swiping his vehicle roughly 60km from the accident scene before speeding off.
Dube has denied speeding and points to his 20-year exemplary service record with Springbok Atlas, who described him as a “model employee” in a statement shortly after the tragedy.
The accident and two others elsewhere in the country sparked a national cabinet review of South Africa’s transportation policies, including a lowering of the maximum speed limit for buses and taxis, and a targeted programme for testing the fitness of public transport vehicles. – African Eye News Service