The truck driver charged with murder following the Field’s Hill crash that claimed 22 lives only took the job when a colleague turned it down because of the vehicle’s faulty brakes.
|||The truck driver charged with murder following the Field’s Hill crash that claimed 22 lives only took the job when a colleague turned it down because of the vehicle’s faulty brakes.
On his first long trip, Sanele May, the driver of the 18-wheeler truck that ploughed into four taxis and several vehicles killing 22 people last Thursday, desperately tried to avoid smashing into backed-up traffic ahead of him by turning off the M13 onto Richmond Road.
This is according to May’s cousin, who said the young man from Swaziland had been very excited about his new job.
“He was thrilled when he got the job Monday last week,” said Alfred Sibandze.
The company, Sagekal Logistics, has refuted the claims. “This is not true,” said Lisa Sukdev, spokeswoman for truck owner Gregory Govender.
Sukdev said Govender had received death threats, abusive calls and SMSes since the fatal crash. “He is a man traumatised, not about fear of fact, but by the reality of the extent of this tragedy,” she said.
Sibandze said May had driven from Durban to Joburg last Monday to offload and was heading back last Thursday with a 12-metre container when tragedy struck.
As calls grew yesterday for Govender to be charged criminally, Transport spokesman Kwanele Ncalane said MEC Willies Mchunu had made a call to investigators to look at this possibility.
During the memorial service for the dead, Mchunu said the truck “had faulty brakes”. He also believed Govender must have known about the faulty brakes and would be held accountable.
“Once we are ready, he will be facing a lot of questions,” he said.
Sukdev said Govender was co-operating fully with authorities and was also conducting an independent investigation, which will be discussed at the press conference next week.
Ncalane said Mchunu was also considering a call to ban trucks on Field’s Hill.
eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo said yesterday within a few weeks, trucks could possibly be banned on the busy road.
Nxumalo said this could be the outcome should recommendations in a task team report be adopted and if agreed by all parties.
And areas such as Clairwood and the Bluff, where communities lament the problem of trucks, could also see action taken.
Meanwhile, the driver’s cousin Sibandze, a mechanic at a trucking company in Phoenix, said: “All he does is cry and ask for poison. He keeps on saying he wants to die. He keeps on asking why he didn’t die instead of all those people.”
Sibandze said a calmer May, who was receiving counselling, was only now able to piece together what happened moments before the truck hurtled through the intersection at the bottom of Field’s Hill pulverising everything in its path.
May had realised the brakes were faulty as he was driving down the M13, and was approaching traffic. Realising he was going to crash into backed-up traffic, May swerved into the Richmond Road offramp.
“He said he pressed the brakes several times as he approached traffic but the truck would not stop.
“He then swerved the truck into the off-ramp in a desperate bid to try to avoid smashing into those cars… but did not know he was heading on an even more disastrous path,” said Sibandze.
May recalled seeing a VW Jetta. “He says after that it all went blank.” The next thing he recalls was seeing dismembered bodies strewn all over the road. “All he does is cry and says he killed all those innocent people,” he said.
Sibandze said a truck driver from the same company had told him he was initially asked to drive the load to Joburg but he turned down the job when he realised it was the “same faulty truck that hadn’t been fixed.”
“That’s when the company called in Sanele and he was thrilled to get the job,” said Sibandze.
Sukdev said there was no truth to the claims. She said Govender has been running his business for 12 years, adding that the majority of his staff had been employed since its inception.
Sukdev said Govender has been working tirelessly to establish the truth about what led to the accident. “He has provided May with the best possible legal representative, as well as food and clothing while he is in prison.”
Yesterday May’s lawyer, Theasan Pillay, said he had not received a directive from May that he wished to change his legal representative as was stated by a top Durban lawyer.
Since the crash there has been an outpouring of sympathy for May, with scores of people offering donations or counselling, while others have set up support groups.
Thousands have signed a petition calling for murder charges to rather be pinned on Govender. The petition reached 12 500 signatures late last night, with people across South Africa, Zimbabwe and even the UK asking for “Justice for Sanele May”.
Sibandze said May was grateful for the compassion and kindness.
From the funds, he had been able to contact May’s four siblings in Swaziland. “We’re trying to at least get two of his siblings to come to Monday’s court proceedings,” he said.
May’s mother died when he was six and he’s never known his father. “For such a young man, he has led a difficult life,” he said.
May, who stayed with Sibandze in the Kennedy Road informal settlement, arrived in the country last year after matriculating.
He soon got his code 14 heavy duty vehicle licence.
“He started driving trucks in and around Durban a few months ago, but this was his big break into the trucking industry,” said Sibandze, who was the first person May contacted after the crash.
Mayor Nxumalo said last night the municipality worked hard this week to find out what measures the council could take to help stop the trucking problem.
In the city’s report, three main issues were identified: bylaws and whether this could allow for a banning of trucks on Field’s Hill, increased patrols by metro police on the route, and improving the signage along the route.
The report will be sent to the provincial transport department’s office, and then to the national department. Enacting the recommendations is likely to be fast-tracked.
“As a result of this horrific accident, it looks like the national department wants to finalise the recommendations within the next few weeks,” said Nxumalo.
He said the type of interventions being discussed will set a precedent in other areas in eThekwini. “This trucking problem is not only happening in Field’s Hill as other areas are experiencing a similar thing.” - The Independent on Saturday