WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-03-19 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[This was ridiculous. Jan]
By Lebogang Seale
Thousands of passengers using Johannesburg Metrobus, including schoolchildren, will be stranded next week. Metrobus and the city of Johannesburg have announced an indefinite bus service suspension to protect their staff and commuters following Friday’s gruesome murders of two Metrobus drivers.
Asked if there would be contingency plans to provide the thousands of Metrobus commuters with transport, the mayoral committee’s head of transport, Rehana Moosajee, said the council would urge other bus operators to fill the breach.
The suspension will be reviewed on Thursday.
The latest murders in a spate of violent attacks on bus drivers since the beginning of the year took place in Kagiso on the West Rand. Police believe the drivers’ deaths, and the shooting of another driver on Thursday, are linked to the month-long Metrobus strike.
Metrobus chairperson Zwelibanzi Mntambo said although the company regretted the suspension, the safety of their staff was a consideration that superseded the profit motive.
“Blood money is not what the company is interested in; the protection of life is priceless,” he said.
Mntambo said the company had been taken aback by the resurgence of violent attacks, as the disputes around the strike seemed to have been resolved.
He said the company would meet the bus drivers to review progress on intensifying safety measures.
“In the meantime we will continue to consult with the law enforcement agencies to find ways of protecting our members and get the buses running again.”
In Friday’s incident, an armed gang hijacked a Metrobus staff bus as its driver was on his way to pick up his colleagues for the early morning shift.
According to West Rand police spokesperson Captain Sphiwe Ndlovu, the gang told the driver to pick up one of his colleagues in the township before forcing him to drive to the local cemetery.
There, they set the bus alight with the two men, aged 60 and 42, still inside. It is not clear if the men were killed before the bus was torched.
The charred remains of the single-decker bus, parked next to the cemetery entrance, bore silent testimony to the gruesome murders, which has shocked the community and other bus drivers.
Metrobus managing director Bheki Shongwe said: “There is nothing that could justify this brutality in the light of the high levels of violence we have in our country. The reality, however, is that in spite of using all the law enforcement agencies, including the metro police, the situation hasn’t improved.”
He said he regretted the decision to suspend the bus strike, particularly because the vast majority of commuters were schoolchildren.
Shongwe added he was disappointed by the lack of commitment from the South African Municipal Workers’ Union in the negotiations.
“We have gone far beyond what they demanded. From where we stand, we think we have given everything in terms of sick leave. In fact, we have actually conceded to their demands,” he said.
The decision to suspend the strike was met with a sigh of relief by hundreds of concerned bus drivers, who converged at the Metrobus centre in Braamfontein. Many had already decided not to carry on.
Some of the drivers said the latest incidents had traumatised them even more.
“We are deeply touched by the senseless murder of our colleagues. We don’t feel safe to go to work any more,” said one driver.
In February, a 51-year-old Soweto bus driver, Mbiyakhe Edward Mdlalose, was shot dead in the Joburg CBD. Two drivers narrowly escaped death when they were shot while on duty.
Ndlovu said no arrests had been made.
Police are investigating a case of hijacking, two counts of murder and malicious damage to property.