Three of SA accident victims identified as Zimbabweans

The incident, which occurred on Tuesday morning near Bandelierkop, about 24km out of Makhado town, left 10 people dead while 16 others sustained injuries.
The minibus was travelling from Pretoria to Zimbabwe while the truck was heading towards Polokwane and coming from Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s consular-general Mr Godfrey Magwenzi said they have so far established that three of the victims were indeed Zimbabweans, adding that they were now in the process of trying to locate their next of kin.
He said four others have not yet been positively identified while the boy, who was also killed during the accident, was a Congolese.
“We are in the process of identifying the deceased persons, which is the critical phase and once we are through, the next stage is to contact their next of kin. So far, we have managed to identify three Zimbabweans through their passports,” said Mr Magwenzi.
He, however, could not release their names, saying they would only do so after completing the entire vetting process.
Mr Magwenzi expressed his condolences to families of the deceased.
“As the consulate, we are saddened by the loss of lives and we fully sympathise with the families of the deceased during this moment of grief. We, however, urge motorists to be extra cautious on the roads to avoid the recurrence of such unfortunate incidents, which have of late become a common phenomenon, particularly on this N1 stretch,” he said.
The South African police spokesperson for Makhado, Captain Maano Sadiki, said they were working with their Zimbabwean counterparts in trying to locate the relatives of the dead.
He said they would only release the names of the dead after completing the process of notifying the next of kin.
“We have so far managed to positively identify five victims, three of which are Zimbabweans and we will be able to release the names once the next of kin have been informed. Right now we are still making efforts to identify the remaining five victims,” he said.
According to police, the truck driver encroached onto the lane of oncoming traffic resulting in a head-on collision with the minibus.
Both drivers of the two vehicles were declared dead on the scene.
“The Iveco minibus that was going to Zimbabwe apparently collided head-on with a truck and we have opened a culpable homicide case,” Capt Sadiki said.
The injured were taken to Elim and the Louis Trichardt Memorial hospitals. Capt Sadiki said they were now investigating a case of culpable homicide.
The N1 highway that links Zimbabwe and South Africa has of late turned into a death trap and several Zimbabweans have been killed in accidents occurring along that stretch. Last year in July, 14 Zimbabweans were killed, among them a five-year-old girl, while nine others were seriously injured when a cross-border bus they were travelling in veered off the road before it overturned along the same highway outside Makhado.