A memorial service is expected to be held for the more than 30 people who died in separate accidents in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) on Monday, provincial minister for safety and security Bheki Cele said on Tuesday.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sbu Ndebele declared Thursday as a day of mourning for the victims.
The service is expected to be held at Curries Fountain in Durban.
”The day will accommodate prayer sessions to ask for divine intervention on the dark cloud that has fallen on our beloved province … because yesterday [Monday] was the darkest day the province had ever seen on the roads,” Cele said.
Four accidents, in the space of three hours, claimed the lives of 31 people and by late evening another life was lost in a fifth crash.
A collision between a coal truck and a minibus taxi near Dundee claimed the lives of 15 people, while another 12 people were killed on the outskirts of Durban near Shongweni, when a bakkie carrying workers lost control and ploughed into oncoming traffic.
In a third accident near Mtubatuba on the N2 another three people died, while in a fourth accident a seven-year-old school boy was killed in the remote Hlabisa district when he was hit by a car.
A fifth accident occurred between Blood River and Utrecht at 8pm when a car lost control and landed in a dam. The driver was declared dead at the scene.
Cele said one of the many injured was an eight month-pregnant woman.
She and the baby, said Cele, were lucky to have survived.
As Cele’s department prepared for the upcoming Easter holidays, he said drivers needed to take extra measures.
”Although I believe in divine intervention, I also believe that people’s behavioural patterns need to change on the road. It is a challenge to all drivers that we don’t repeat yesterday’s [Monday] tragedy.” — Sapa