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The KwaZulu-Natal testing station responsible for issuing a roadworthy certification to the truck involved in a crash that killed 24 people in Pietermaritzburg in 2013, has been shut down.
KZN transport MEC Willies Mchunu said on Thursday (May 29 2014) that the Phoenix Testing Station in Durban's Phoenix Industrial Park has been suspended.
Mchunu's spokesman Kwanele Ncalane added that provincial transport authorities and police had uncovered fraud and corruption at the station which was responsible for issuing the roadworthy certificate for a Sagekal Logistics truck driven by Swaziland national Sanele
Goodness May.
CULPABLE HOMICIDE
The truck careered through an duel-carriageway road junction in Pinetown, killing 24 people on September 5 2013.
May remains in custody and is on trial for 24 counts of culpable homicide.
In his most recent appearance at the Durban High Court earlier this week (May 27 2014), the case was postponed to allow the state to consider charging more people in connection with the case.
An examiner and a clerk from the testing station as well as a third suspect, were arrested in December 2013. The examiner allegedly issued a roadworthy certificate while he was supposedly on sick leave.
FRAUDULENT CERTIFICATES
At the time of the examiner's arrest Road Traffic Management Corporation anti-corruption unit deputy chief Jody Pillay said it could not be ascertained whether the clerk and the examiner were involved in issuing the roadworthy certificate for May's truck.
He said the station issued fraudulent certificates for as little as R250.
Mchunu added: "We have observed that unroadworthy vehicles, with all types of faults, have often been cited as major contributing factors and it is all because of individuals who have no respect for our laws and people's lives."
KZN transport MEC Willies Mchunu said on Thursday (May 29 2014) that the Phoenix Testing Station in Durban's Phoenix Industrial Park has been suspended.
Mchunu's spokesman Kwanele Ncalane added that provincial transport authorities and police had uncovered fraud and corruption at the station which was responsible for issuing the roadworthy certificate for a Sagekal Logistics truck driven by Swaziland national Sanele
Goodness May.
CULPABLE HOMICIDE
The truck careered through an duel-carriageway road junction in Pinetown, killing 24 people on September 5 2013.
May remains in custody and is on trial for 24 counts of culpable homicide.
In his most recent appearance at the Durban High Court earlier this week (May 27 2014), the case was postponed to allow the state to consider charging more people in connection with the case.
An examiner and a clerk from the testing station as well as a third suspect, were arrested in December 2013. The examiner allegedly issued a roadworthy certificate while he was supposedly on sick leave.
FRAUDULENT CERTIFICATES
At the time of the examiner's arrest Road Traffic Management Corporation anti-corruption unit deputy chief Jody Pillay said it could not be ascertained whether the clerk and the examiner were involved in issuing the roadworthy certificate for May's truck.
He said the station issued fraudulent certificates for as little as R250.
Mchunu added: "We have observed that unroadworthy vehicles, with all types of faults, have often been cited as major contributing factors and it is all because of individuals who have no respect for our laws and people's lives."
