After a school bus claimed a young boy’s life in Villa Liza on August 16, 2021, at Blatjang Street, the disgruntled masses that gathered at the scene of the accident resorted to vandalising the Buildusworld hardware which is located next to the accident scene.
It is rumoured that the masses are blaming the owner of the hardware for the accident.
However the owner of the hardware is distancing himself from what happened, saying, “I had nothing to do with the accident, and I was not there when the accident happened, I was in my business area sleeping, but to my surprise some community members are blaming me for what transpired outside of my business site.
“I believe the people who led the vandalisation of my business are somehow against me or jealous of my business, because I know them and they know me, so I’m wondering what ignited them to act out in this terrible manner, I understand that a human being lost his life next to my business, but they shouldn’t have taken out all their frustrations and anger on my business. They destroyed my cars, truck, building structure, the building material that I sell, and some of my essentials that I usually use to run my business efficiently. The damages have affected me drastically, it is difficult to operate under this pandemic phase, and what they have done has exacerbated things for me, because I’m operating a developing business.
“My plans of reducing the unemployment rate have been shattered, because I have to retrench some of my staff members in order to fix the damages, but my undying spirit keeps me going, my quest for now it is to rebuild my business, I send my deepest condolences to the boy’s bereaved family,” Malete expressed.
A community representative, Kleinbooi Mollo, also seized the opportunity to share his side of the story, saying: “I was not there when the accident happened, but it is declared that the school bus plunged into the wall and thereafter the wall fell on top of the child and he died instantly on the scene, when I was summoned to the accident zone as a community representative, I tried to call the paramedics and indeed they came to the scene and evaluated the child, unfortunately they confirmed that the child had died.
“After the child was declared deceased, some community members who were gathering on the accident scene seized the opportunity to push their own evil agendas by spreading false information about the business man, they claimed that the business man (Johannes Mahlodi Malete) is the main causer of the accident, because his hardware has used up the resourceful space that was supposed to be used by the buses that transport school children from Villa Liza to other areas around the City of Ekurhuleni.
“I solely believe the business man had nothing to do with the accident, the person who is at fault is the bus driver, so the transportation business that owns the bus should take full responsibility of all the damages that were caused by the accident. I would also like to blame the Minister of the Department of Transport for permitting un-roadworthy vehicles to travel on our roads, because it has been revealed that what really caused the accident is the faulty brakes of the bus,” Mollo disclosed.
By Matampane Raymond Mokwena
