The shocking bus accident in the Western Cape, in which at least 27 people from the Eastern Cape were killed recently, prompted Transport spokesperson Dacre Haddon to urge the provincial legislature to take action.

“Sadly again the bus involved comes from the Eastern Cape,” Haddon said.

“I will on behalf of the DA in the Provincial Legislature be proposing a motion during the next sitting in June to ask for an audit of all bus companies in the province to ascertain how many busses are in an unroadworthy state and an audit on driver training so as to curb the shocking on-going spate of bus accidents in this province and elsewhere.

“Furthermore, the motion will be calling for criminal charges and rectification measures to be taken against the owners and the driver of the bus, who should all be jailed for a long time.

“In February I asked parliamentary questions regarding the policing of unroadworthy vehicles on our roads and was assured that plans were in place to have special law enforcement done during the Soccer World Cup. Why must we wait for the World Cup to put on a false show of law enforcement when such enforcement should be a daily sustained effort by our traffic authorities?

“Harsh action against owners and drivers of unroadworthy busses must be enforced on a sustained basis to act as a deterrent to those who do not regard the value of human life,” he said.