A seven-year-old schoolboy and a 75-year-old taxi driver were killed when a bakkie ran over them outside a Johannesburg school on Friday, the city’s metro police said.
Spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said the accident happened at 7.35am, in Roberts Avenue in front of Jeppe High School.
He said taxi driver Absalom Mahlangu parked his minibus on the side of the road and was helping grade one pupil Nkanyiso Mdluli to cross the road when a Nissan Hardbody 4×4 knocked them over, killing them instantly.
No-one in the 4×4 was hurt.
A case of culpable homicide was opened against the 4×4 driver, a 40-year-old man, who would be subpoenaed to appear in court once the investigation was complete.
Four other incidents of school children knocked over by cars were reported on Friday in Johannesburg.
Netcare 911’s spokesperson Nick Dollman said a nine-year-old child was knocked down in Ivory Park in Midrand at 7.15am. The child was taken away by car before paramedics arrived.
At lunch time at the corner of Abel and Joe Slovo roads in Berea, a 10-year-old boy was knocked over. The driver of the car then drove away, leaving the car behind.
The boy suffered head and chest injuries and was in a critical condition at the Johannesburg hospital, Dollman said.
In Sandton a seven-year-old boy was knocked down on Witkoppen Road close to Fourways Mall, also at lunch time.
He was transported to the Johannesburg hospital were he was in a stable condition.
In Thokoza on the East Rand a school girl suffered ankle injuries when a school bus bumped into her at about 2.30pm at Encochogini Primary School. The girl was taken to the Natalspruit hospital in a stable condition.
The driver of the bus did not stop and it was believe he was not aware he had hit the girl. – Sapa