A bus travelling from Malawi to Johannesburg was stopped near Polokwane in Limpopo after traffic officers found 90 passengers on a bus allowed to carry only 70 people.
The bus was intercepted on Monday, May 18, on the N1 near the Mashishing off-ramp outside Polokwane during a traffic law enforcement operation conducted by Limpopo traffic officers.
According to the Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety, the passenger list found on board recorded only 25 passengers despite the bus carrying 90 occupants.
Acting spokesperson for the department, Matome Taueatsoala, said SAPS and Immigration Services had been called to the scene to assist with investigations.
“SAPS and Immigration Services have been called to the scene and are attending to the matter,” Taueatsoala said.
The department said the bus, which was travelling from Malawi to Johannesburg, was suspected of being overloaded and warned operators against violating road safety regulations.
“We remind all operators that overloading puts lives at risk and is a direct violation of road safety laws. Law enforcement will continue to act decisively against such practices,” Taueatsoala said.
Limpopo provincial police commissioner Lt -General Thembi Hadebe, who was at the scene, said authorities believed the bus had travelled across several areas before being intercepted on the N1.
“We intercepted a bus, probably it’s coming from Malawi. Surprisingly, so it’s crossed all the way, but fortunately, just up beyond the stadium on the N1, it was intercepted,” Hadebe said.
She said traffic officers and police were conducting searches and verifying the immigration status of passengers on board.
“Our traffic offices were on duty, and the police officers and the traffic officers are going to search all the occupants of the bus and check how many illegal immigrants are there because we’re definitely sure that the bus is full of people who are foreign nationals,” she said.
“Now it’s for us, between Home Affairs and us and the police to check who is legit, eligible to be in the country, and who’s not.”
Hadebe also raised concerns about the condition of the bus, saying authorities suspected it was not roadworthy.
“The bus, when you look at it, is not roadworthy as well, and these are the typical buses that are always putting us on our toes in terms of making sure that the safety of those occupants is taken care of,” she said.
She warned that overloaded and unroadworthy buses contribute to road fatalities in the province.
“We are discouraging this type of incident, that people will come here with unroadworthy buses and come and have accidents in our province and escalate the fatalities that we normally have,” Hadebe said.
She urged members of the public to report similar incidents to law enforcement authorities.
“We want to encourage all road users to say when they spot such, they must just phone the police so that we can close and intercept it anywhere on the route in our province to stop these accidents that are happening from time to time,” she said.
The 65-seater bus was stopped at about 9 am on December 18, adjacent to the Peter Mokaba Stadium, after officers observed that it was severely overloaded.
According to the Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety, the bus was carrying a total of 117 occupants — comprising one driver, 101 passengers and 15 minors — exceeding its legal capacity by 52 passengers.
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Hope Ntanzi
iol.co.za
