Parents stood devastated and helpless at the scene, watching rules enforced against them bend in favour of politicians while they waited anxiously for news about their children.
This was shared by Lebo Maqekwane, the uncle of six-year-old Ofentse Jayden Vinger, a Grade 1 learner at Oliver Lodge Primary School, who died in a scholar transport accident in Vanderbijlpark on Monday morning.
Maqekwane said parents were instructed to stand aside and not interfere with what was described as “an active crime scene”.
Politicians allowed in, while parents weren’t
However, he said this changed when politicians arrived.
According to Maqekwane, parents were shattered by what they witnessed.
“Parents were told to stand on the side and not interfere with the active crime scene. However, the rules were bent when politicians arrived,” he said.
Maqekwane made the remarks on Tuesday while addressing the media during Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube’s visit to his family in Sebokeng.
He said parents felt side-lined during the most painful moments of their lives.
“The parents stood there from the early hours waiting in suspense but somebody from elsewhere is given a privilege to go to the scene. Politicians are people, they are parents. So they should have stood there with the broken parents,” he said.
Displacement of learners far from homes
Maqekwane reiterated that it was overloading that led to the death of the children.
“A minibus taxi operating from Sebokeng to Vanderbijlpark cannot make profit unless they have overload, which was the case here. We also don’t understand why children from here should be placed in schools that are far from home,” he stated.
He said the reality of the tragedy became even more painful when he visited the mortuary on Tuesday morning.
“It was sad in the morning when I saw a woman at the mortuary going in to identify the body,” he said.
“Where are the people who took her money and promised to transport her child to school? Where are the people who are responsible for the death of the child?” he asked.
Speaking about his nephew, Maqekwane described Ofentse as a fearless and brave child.
“He was a brave boy who feared nothing. He has a very big dog here that he has left us with. I would shout at him for it because I was scared of it. We don’t know why God chose him,” he said.
He added that Ofentse was meant to turn 7 in September.
“The young boy was going to turn 7 in September. The family is so sad because this shouldn’t have happened. What breaks us the most is the fact that it’s not happening for the first time here in the Vaal,” he added.
Family lost two children
Another family affected by the tragedy said no punishment would ease their pain after losing two children in the same incident.
The family lost brothers Lesego Sefatsa, 7, and Phehello Motaung, 18 (pictured below).
Family spokesperson Nomthetheleli Dys said the family has accepted that no sentence handed to the 22-year-old scholar transport driver would bring healing.
Phehello was described as a young man who loved church, respected elders and loved his grandmother.
Young ones robbed of their future
Dys urged parents to pray for their children daily. He described life as fragile and said the pupils were robbed of their future.
“What happened to our family is painful, we don’t wish it for anyone. When you prepare children in the morning for them to go to school, you don’t expect to receive news about their death,” Dys said.
