Johannesburg – The former Free State’s number one MEC, Butana Khompela, is facing three years imprisonment.
The former Free State Police, Roads and Transport MEC has been served with three years behind bars, which has been suspended for five years.
The Brandfort Magistrate’s Court found him guilty of culpable homicide following an incident that occurred in January 2019, when his car bumped into the car of the late Samuel Manyova who was killed on the scene.
Butana, who is the older brother of Mamelodi Sundowns co-coach Steve Komphela, was driving from Theunissen heading to Bloemfontein when his vehicle swayed onto oncoming traffic.
While handing down the judgment, state prosecutor, Mpoti Chalale, said: “According to the accident scene expert, the contributing cause to the accident can only be a human error because the vehicle did not have a mechanical fault and the road was in a good condition.
“It was Mr Komphela who was driving at the speed of about 150km per hour in an 80km/h zone when he swerved into oncoming traffic,” said Chalale.
“The accused is a former MEC who was responsible for roads in the province and he knows that road is a high-accident zone.
“There is no way the sun could have made it impossible for him to see other vehicles because the accident happened at around 14h00,” Chalale added.
This is not the first time the controversial Komphela faces jail sentencing, in 2015, Komphela was slapped with a 30-day jail sentence after he defied the court order to bring stability to the Fouriesburg and Lesotho taxi routes.
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