How overloaded bus travelled 700km through roadblocks

FOR the second time in less than a week, South Africa's festive season law enforcement "net" has been exposed as porous.

- JONISAYI MAROMO [e-mail]

Questions are being raised over how a bus - dangerously overloaded with 82 passengers - managed to travel over 700 kilometers from Durban to Limpopo without being intercepted.

The Zimbabwe-bound bus was finally grounded at 4am on Sunday, December 21, at the Zebediela Traffic Control Centre (ZTCC). Despite being certified for only 63 people, it was found carrying 19 extra passengers, including 10 minors.

This incident is a near-carbon copy of a story reported on IOL News just days ago, involving a Malawi-bound bus that reached Polokwane with 117 passengers on board.

That bus had reportedly been stopped in Gauteng, fined, and allowed to proceed - only to pick up more passengers and double its illegal load before reaching Limpopo.