KNYSNA NEWS - A potential tragedy was avoided when the wheel of an African Express bus came off on the Rheenendal Road just minutes before it was due to pick up school children early on Monday morning. The bus is from the same company whose vehicle transporting learners ended up in the Kasat-se-Drift River on the same road and cost the lives of 14 children in 2011.

Rheenendal resident and chairperson of the governing body at Rheenendal Primary School, Albertos Marbi stated that had the bus been carrying children, it could have easily been a very serious situation.

'Buses should be inspected daily'
"This incident is a major concern for us. What if there were kids on the bus? The buses should be inspected on a daily basis, this is unacceptable" he said.

The owner of African Express, Praveen Singh, however insists that the bus driver was careful in avoiding an oncoming vehicle, and in doing so probably saved lives. Singh explained this week that as the bus veered off the road, the wheel fell off and the vehicle came to a standstill across the road. He confirmed that the bus was on its way to pick up school children. 

"The bus went through a roadworthy test just recently. There was nothing wrong with the vehicle," he said. When Singh was asked, "What if there were on the bus," he responded, "But there weren't."

The scene of an accident on the Rheenendal Road on Monday morning where a tyre fell off an African Express bus on its way to pick up children.

'Entire drum broken off at axle'
But markings on the road seem to suggest otherwise, according to well-known vehicle consultant Pieter van Halderen, who happened to cycle past the scene at the time of the accident. He said the abrasion marks on the road indicate the bus was actually travelling in a straight line and did not veer across the road until it had lost the wheel. 

"I was shocked. The entire drum of the wheel was broken off the axle. Surely just veering off the road, without any collision, cannot result in such extensive damage," he said. But Singh maintains this is what happened, according to his driver. He said the driver was not injured.

Past incidents and accidents
It is the fifth time in just over eight years that this company has been involved in a serious incident.

On 24 August 2011, 14 schoolchildren lost their lives while being transported in an African Express bus. An inquest followed the accident, and magistrate Derek Torlage found that there was prima facie evidence that the Western Cape education department, the testing station that issued a roadworthy certificate for the bus, the bus company owner and the driver had been negligent and that this had contributed to the disaster. 

The matter was referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for a decision whether the bus company owner (Singh) and testing station owner Eugene Labuschagne should be prosecuted. Despite Torlage's findings, the DPP decided not to prosecute.

The 2011 Rheenendal bus tragedy claimed the lives of 14 schoolchildren. Photo: Elle Photography.

In May 2017, an African Express bus reportedly rolled backwards into a ditch on the Uniondale Road in Nekkies, causing five learners from Thembelitsha Primary to be hospitalised with injuries and for shock. The driver was allegedly in a nearby shop when the bus crashed.

On 16 August 2012, an African Express bus, also with schoolchildren on board, while on its way from Pacaltsdorp sports grounds to Heidedal Primary School in Borcherds, was stopped by officials of the George traffic department and summarily impounded when they found it was being driven with copied licence discs.

The driver of the bus was arrested on the scene and, as reported in the George Herald, the bus was found to be operating without a valid transport licence.

At the time, Faried Stemmet, legal adviser and spokesperson for African Express, said, "The traffic officials were not properly informed." The bus was subsequently released to African Express and the driver released.

According to the Knysna traffic department, the incident occurred due to mechanical failure and not human negligence. "The bus was inspected and it was in a roadworthy condition," adding that a mechanical fault can occur despite a vehicle being declared roadworthy. "The municipality traffic department and provincial traffic conduct scholar transport operations on a weekly basis, and every six months all scholar buses go through vehicle roadworthiness inspections."

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