Umalayitsha arrested for squeezing 44 people into kombi

Limpopo traffic police in South Africa last week arrested the driver of a cross-border taxi popularly known as “umalayitsha” who was transporting 44 passengers in a 22-seater minibus.

Seven of the passengers were children. Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety spokesperson Matome Moremi-Taueatsoala, said the vehicle was stopped on the N1 next to Snake Park, just outside Polokwane.

The vehicle was en-route to Zimbabwe from Johannesburg. Moremi-Taueutsoala said the driver of the vehicle did not have a relevant Professional Driver Permit (PDP) and was arrested for driving an overloaded vehicle.

“MEC for transport and community safety Makoma Makhurupetje continues to warn road users that overloading is a very serious problem and causes tyre bursts which lead to fatalities on our roads. We call on our people to be vigilant, also importantly traffic officials must continue to take a no-nonsense approach in taking of malicious vehicles on our roads as they are responsible for many accidents on our roads,” he said.— news24.com