EFF leader Julius Malema and the top leadership of the party are expected to return to KwaZulu-Natal to attend the mass funeral of the party members that died in a bus accident.

Ten party supporters died and scores of others were injured when their bus collided with a long-haul truck near Vryheid, north of the province, on Monday night.

They were returning from the party’s Youth Day commemoration rally, which was held at King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi, south of Durban, on Monday.

Malema’s return to the province was confirmed by the party provincial secretary, Vukani Ndlovu, on Thursday.

According to Ndlovu, the party’s top leadership would attend the mass funeral over the weekend in remembrance of the fallen heroes and heroines.

“We are expecting our Commander-In-Chief, Julius Malema, and the top national leadership to come back to the province to honour the funeral of our tragically departed fighters.” 

He said the funeral will take place on Saturday in Vryheid, but the venue still needs to be confirmed, adding that the party is finalising the preparations, including securing a ground or an open space to erect marquees.

The party will also carry all funeral costs.

Ndlovu said 37 injured people have been discharged, except four who are still in the hospital.

Provincial Transport MEC Siboniso Duma visited the scene with department officials, visiting the hospital to see the injured passengers as well as the families of the deceased.

Although police are still investigating the cause of the accident, it is believed it was caused by poor visibility in the early hours of darkness, which may have led the bus driver to not be able to see the truck.

The MEC said both the SAPS and Road Traffic Management Cooperation will conduct a comprehensive investigation to establish the cause of the accident; however, he received conflicting versions about what happened from the survivors.

“There are allegations that the bus driver tried to overtake. Other survivors have alleged that the bus driver fell asleep at the steering wheel. We do not want to speculate at this stage. We are confident that the investigation will shed light. Critically, we have in the past expressed our concerns about accidents involving trucks,” said Duma.

The MEC said trucks are not supposed to be on this road in the first place and should be using the N2, adding that many innocent lives have been lost due to a huge number of trucks on the roads.

The truck was believed to be headed to the Richards Bay port to offload coal for export.

Over 303,000 trucks, or almost 6,000 trucks every week on average, used the Richards Bay port in the 2024 fiscal year, according to Transnet, Duma stated.

He said it has been stated that the port’s infrastructure was originally designed for a much smaller volume of trucks, approximately 200 per day.

“Working with the national government, we are doubling our efforts to ensure that we strengthen plans to move cargo from road to rail,” concludes Duma.

willem.phungula@inl.co.za

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