Africa-Press – South-Africa. Families of the six people who died in a bus accident on the R573 Moloto Road last year have accused the Public Utility Transport Corporation (Putco) of making their lives difficult by allegedly not paying them their R5 000 monthly incomes on time.
Nomadlozi Madonsela lost her mother, Linah Madonsela, in the crash on 21 May 2021.
Families of Putco bus crash victims furious at not being paid deceased loved ones’ monthly earnings
She told News24 Putco promised to pay her family and the other affected families R5 000 at the end of every month until their Road Accident Fund (RAF) claims were finalised.
Madonsela accused Putco of reneging on its promise and paying them late on the 7th or 10th of every month.
She said on Thursday:
“Our mother was buying us food at the end of every month because her employer was paying her at the end of every month. Our lives are difficult now because we sometimes have to borrow money from people while waiting for Putco to pay us,” she added.
The accident happened near the Roodeplaat Dam when a Putco bus caught alight.
Six passengers burnt to death and scores were injured. The bus was ferrying commuters from Pretoria to Tweefontein Village.
In June 2021, Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane asked Putco to assist the victims’ families.
This included a provision that it pays every family of a deceased passenger R100 000 for funeral expenses and to replace their income and those who were injured with monthly earnings of up to a maximum R10 000 until their RAF claims were finalised.
Vusumuzi Masuku told News24 he lost his wife, Simangele Kabini, in the accident.
He said Putco was also paying them late every month.
“We get paid on the 7th or 10th and this means we also have to pay our bills late,” added Masuku.
He said:
Putco’s business development executive, Matlakala Motloung, confirmed on Thursday the bus company was paying every family who lost a loved one R5 000 per month since August 2021.
She said it was not a problem to sometimes pay the families on or before the 7th of the month.
“Any amount that the families receive on or before the 7th of the month is on time,” added Motloung. “We have never paid them later than the 7th of any month. If that happened, it must have happened once and caused by a glitch.”
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