Seven construction workers were travelling illegally in the scoop of a road-grading machine near Pretoria on Thursday when the driver lost control. Four of them died horribly, and three were badly hurt.

One woman was sliced in half when the huge machine tumbled over. The allegedly unlicensed driver was also seriously injured.

The workers who died, three women and a man, were on their way with their colleagues to their base on a construction site in Hebron outside Pretoria to have lunch when the accident occurred.

The seven, who were working on a water pipe contract for Rand Water and the Tshwane Metro Council, were standing in the scoop of the grader when the driver apparently lost control of the vehicle which at that point was travelling downhill.

‘Please can you tell her her children are waiting for her’
The four were killed when they were flung from the vehicle as it hurtled more than 500m down the hill before crashing into a small ravine.

The first woman, Boitumelo Tjatje, died when she was hurled from the scoop and broke her neck when she landed on the ground.

Her neighbour and best friend, Oncia Monaisa, 25, was killed when her body was chopped in half by one of grader’s arms as she tried to leap to safety.

Her husband Johannes, a security guard at a nearby store, saw her dying as he walked out of his house to see what people were screaming about.

Police and other construction workers had to use spades to remove the bodies of Dora Chauke and her colleague Isaac Moloi who were crushed to death when they fell under the tracks of the grader.

‘No arrests have been made yet’
The driver, who has been charged with culpable homicide and reckless and negligent driving, cannot be named until he has appeared in court.

He, along with three of his seriously injured colleagues, Albert Matshinya, John Sambo and Mary Magagula, were rushed to Odi hospital.

All four suffered serious head, neck, back and internal injuries.

A distraught Johannes Monaisa kept on asking reporters on the scene when his wife would be coming home. “Please can you bring her home. Please can you tell her her children are waiting for her,” he told Pretoria News staff.

Community worker Kedebone Hlahswane had to restrain Monaisa and lead him back to his home when he tried to run after the morgue van, which was transporting his wife’s body.

Ga-Rankuwa police spokesperson Mathews Nkoadi said four charges of culpable homicide and a charge of reckless and negligent driving had been laid against the driver.

Commenting on a claim that the driver was not licensed to drive the grader, Nkoadi said the investigation would look into all aspects.

He said the police, along with the department of labour, would investigate the accident.

“No arrests have been made yet and we are waiting for the injured to be stabilised before taking statements,” he said.

Department of labour investigator Almarie Burger confirmed that they were investigating the accident. Rand Water project manager Sam Molekwa could not comment. – Crime Reporter

This article was originally published on page 1 of Pretoria News on February 25, 2005

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click…/p>