A Lutheran Church elder was killed and two others critically injured while travelling to Pretoria on Wednesday afternoon to buy new chairs for their church.
Police spokesperson Inspector Percy Morokane said a truck from Soweto’s Central West Jabavu Lutheran Church, travelling in the far-left lane of the highway at about 2pm, crashed into a bigger truck that had broken down in the emergency lane and was about to be towed away.
A VW Jetta then crashed into the back of the church truck.
Morokane said a woman was killed and the two other elders — a man and a woman — were seriously injured and were taken to hospital.
No one in the Jetta or the truck was injured.
An eyewitness said debris was scattered all over the freeway and traffic officials were directing motorists around the crash site by letting them drive over the island and briefly into two of the lanes on the other side of the freeway.
Earlier reports said traffic was backed up for 15km.
When the church bishop arrived on the scene, near the Jean Street offramp on the busy Ben Schoeman highway, he discovered that the money raised for the chairs by Soweto parishioners could not be found.
Police believe it was stolen by a motorist who stopped briefly to help.
As traffic backed up during rush hour on the main link between Pretoria and Johannesburg, Morokane urged motorists to find alternate routes or to be ”very patient and cautious”.
He said police were trying to track the person who had stopped to help to question him about the missing money.
Eyewitnesses said he was driving a black vehicle and police have asked motorists who may remember the registration number to contact the Pretoria police. — Sapa