Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
South African police early today arrested the driver of an Intercape bus which killed nine Zimbabweans, among them a toddler, in a road accident near Polokwane on Friday last week.
The bus was travelling from Harare to Johannesburg.
Limpopo police spokesperson Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said the man disappeared from a hospital in Polokwane at the weekend but was intercepted at Beitbridge border post by alert police officers.
He said the man had been charged with nine counts of culpable homicide and would appear before a Polokwane magistrate on Tuesday.
Col Ngoepe withheld the suspect’s name pending his court appearance and said they were still working on identifying the nine victims.
“The Police in Westenburg outside Polokwane have arrested the driver of the bus involved in this horrific accident. He tried to cross the border to Zimbabwe after he was taken to hospital with other 51
injured passengers for medical treatment,” he said.
“As the process of intensive investigations by the Police was unfolding, especially on the possible cause of that accident, he then disappeared following his discharge from hospital and fled towards the Beitbridge port of entry. Police were tipped-off, and swiftly responded and subsequently, the driver was caught hidding inside goods trailer of a truck trying to illegally cross the border into Zimbabwe,” he said.
More to follow…