Residents of Mmamatlakala village outside Mokopane in Limpopo have called on the government to widen the stretch of the road where 45 Botswana nationals lost their lives in a bus crash.
This as President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Botswana counterpart President Mokgweetsi Masisi are visiting the bus crash site at Mmamatlakala bridge on the R518 road between Mokopane and Marken.
The bus was travelling from Gaborone, Botswana, to Saint Engenas Zion Christian Church Easter pilgrimage in Moria outside Polokwane.
Eight-year-old Lorraine Atlang Siako is the sole survivor. Residents also believe that some lives could have been saved if there were fire fighting services nearby.
“That bus crash traumatised all of us. I couldn’t sleep for two days thinking about those who perished in the bus crash. The whole area of Mmamatlakala is shocked, because we have never seen something like this, ” says one of the residents.
Another resident says, “Due to lack of services here, those people burnt beyond recognition, right in front of our eyes and we couldn’t do anything, that accident scared everyone. What could be done, is the rebuilding of the bridge, maybe it can be a solution.”
