A yet-to-be-identified Tshova Mubaiwa kombi driver is on the run after his vehicle rammed into the Mpopoma High School precast wall and a fowl run shortly before 8 AM on Thursday.
The kombi, which plies the City-Cowdray Park route, was coming from the city centre with four passengers on board.
A security guard at the school, Patrick Mahachi, told the Chronicle that the incident unfolded before his eyes. He said:
I saw the Kombi flying towards the precast wall and I rushed to the scene and found that one of the four passengers had sustained a broken leg. What surprised me was the speed at which the driver vanished into thin air.
The spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) in Bulawayo Province, Inspector Abednico Ncube said they were investigating the circumstances that led to the driver fleeing the scene. He said:
We are investigating circumstances leading to an accident involving a Tshova Mubaiwa Kombi today (Thursday).
Our officers are keen to interview the driver of the Kombi who disappeared from the scene of the accident.
He will face negligent driving charges and we appeal to members of the public who may know of his whereabouts to contact any nearest police station.
Bulawayo chief fire officer Nhlanganiso Moyo said the fire brigade attended the scene and remained on standby until the Kombi was towed away from the site. Said Moyo:
We attended to a road traffic accident early this morning at 7.40 am where a driver of a commuter omnibus heading towards Luveve lost control, veered off the road and hit a precast wall and a chicken run inside Mpopoma High School.
Five persons were injured and taken to the hospital. Our crew removed the vehicle out of the school taking into account that it could burst into flames.
The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Felix Mhona recently told Parliament that the Government was proposing to increase the minimum age from 25 years to 30 years to reduce traffic accidents and fatalities, largely attributed to reckless driving.
In 2023, the government promulgated Statutory Instrument 118 of 2023 which requires public service vehicles, including buses, are required to be fitted with speed-limiting devices to ensure their speeds do not exceed 100 km/h.
This measure was introduced in response to an increase in bus accidents attributed to speeding.
These speed limiters are installed permanently and can work for a lifetime if drivers do not tamper with them.
