MOLOTO ROAD – HIGHWAY TO BLACK CHRISTMAS
By Sam Mathe

“As the apartheid era progressed, the social engineers looked for ways to limit the number of blacks who stayed overnight in urban areas – either as residents with their families in township houses or as migrants in single-sex hostels. Their aim was to build up a class of commuters; blacks who could be allowed to work in South Africa so long as they shuttled back to their homeland every night across a presumptive national boundary.” “In its most elaborate and mature form, apartheid required buses, more buses every year as more blacks were fl ushed out of the white areas into offi cially designated resettlement sites; vast rural slums with urban population densities but no urban amenities beyond the buses that represented their slender lifelines to the cities. Before there was a clinic or an assured supply of safe water in these settlements, there had to be a bus stop. The racial doctrine sets the priorities: first you invent the country; then, if you can, an economy. In the meantime, there are the buses to carry the homeland’s citizens to jobs in the nearest industrial centre. In KwaNdebele’s case that meant Pretoria....” Move Your Shadow (1985), by Joseph Lelyveld, New York Times editor and Pulitzer winner. Once more scores of families in this part of the world will spend Black Christmas mourning the tragic loss of their loved ones – thanks to Putco bus drivers’ senseless and reckless driving on the notorious Moloto Road.The Skhosana sisters of Waterval Village in former KwaNdebele are among the unfortunate ones who were orphaned in the horrific crash in November when a Putco bus collided with an oncoming truck, causing both vehicles to burst into an inferno that killed ten passengers and the truck driver. The sisters’ mother, Maria Skhosana (58), was reportedly scarred beyond recognition by the demon fl ames her daughters could only identify her by the clothes she wore. But the tragic reality of Moloto Road accidents is that they are not your typical Christmas and Easter occurrences. They come with clockwork regularity. The November tragedy follows hot on the heels of another costly one which happened in October after a minibus overturned and killed twelve people. In November 2008 traffi c authorities reported that 20 passengers were seriously injured when a Putco bus overturned on Moloto Road at about 8:30 pm – apparently because of reckless driving. A police spokesperson said the bus was travelling from Pretoria to Moloto when the driver overtook another car. “He suddenly realised that there was another oncoming vehicle ahead of him. He then tried to avoid that car by swerving to the side of the road but lost control of the bus and it overturned,” he said. The driver died on the scene. There is structurally nothing wrong with Moloto Road. The landscape is flat and there are hardly any hills or tall bush to obscure visibility of opposing traffic. And although it is traditionally a two-lane road, it is wide enough for safe driving. More signifi cantly is that in June 1999 after a taxi and a Putco bus collided head-on, killing six taxi passengers and injuring ten occupants of the bus, then transport MEC, Khabisi Mosunkutu, launched an investigation and ordered a massive upgrading of the road structure which included the following:

• The addition of 12.22 km of climbing lanes to improve the passing opportunities and therefore the safety of the route;
• The addition of 16 bus stops along the road to provide safe stopping places for buses and the safe and effi cient alighting of passengers;
•  The provision of 1, 67 km of surfaced shoulders at strategic position to improve safety;
• The improvement of various intersections by means of the addition of bypass lanes and acceleration/deceleration lanes;
• Widening of the road cross section on certain sections by 0,6m to achieve an acceptable width;
• The replacement of worn road signs with new high visibility signs to improve safety.

In addition the minister ordered that an entire fl eet of hundreds of Putco buses be tested for roadworthiness. But before the end of that year, Moloto Road claimed another sixteen victims. This occurred after a Putco bus driver overtook a minibus taxi and collided with another Putco bus in rainy conditions. Between 1 January 2000 and 31 January 2002 authorities recorded a staggering 411 accidents which claimed 27 lives. By then the provincial government’s Moloto Road Upgrading Project was in its initial stages. So why after its completion did the accidents resume with a vengeance? (The worst was in April 2006 when 12 passengers were killed and 30 injured). The answer lies in the loutish and brutish behaviour of the bus drivers. Their rudeness, arrogance, insolence and flagrant disregard for road safety rules are legendary. They often drive at break-neck speed and overtake at a whim with little or no regard for the proximity of oncoming traffic. There is an unofficial racing contest on Moloto Road between bus drivers – something which should be left to Formula One professionals. They make taxi drivers look like saints. What compounds the problem is that the villains – often repeat offenders – are usually treated with kid gloves by the bus authorities. They often get away with short suspensions – only to return and continue with the slaughter. On the other hand, grieving families are usually shunted from pillar to post whenever compensation monies have to be processed for funeral costs. And while traffic cops are notable for their zealotry when it comes to stopping private cars and taxis, they seem to regard Putco bus drivers as untouchables. The question is: after fi fteen years of so-called freedom, how many more must be murdered by Putco before the long-awaited Moloto-Pretoria rail system can bring much needed respite to this long suffering class of commuters?
Sam Mathe
Editor