Johannesburg – Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi says he remains deeply traumatised following a fatal accident in which his official vehicle struck and killed a mother and her one-year-old child on the N1 near Bela-Bela.
The victims, Beauty Shoperai and her son, died on Saturday evening while attempting to cross the highway after Shoperai’s husband had earlier been killed in a separate crash.
According to SAPS, the state vehicle, driven by a member of the Protection Security Services (PSS), struck a woman and her two children while they were attempting to cross the road.
“A preliminary investigation suggests that a woman was attempting to cross the road with her two children, one of whom was strapped to her back,” SAPS said in a statement at the time.
Police said the family had allegedly been trying to reach the scene of an earlier accident in which the woman’s husband was reportedly struck and killed by a vehicle driven by an off-duty police officer.
“The trio was attempting to get to the other side of the road to attend to an earlier incident in which the woman’s husband was allegedly struck by a vehicle driven by an off-duty police officer and died at the scene,” SAPS said.
He described the incident as devastating and said it unfolded too quickly for any reaction.
“It was very, very difficult… I saw something in front of the car, but before you could even think then there was this smash,” he said. “To discover that it actually hit human beings, it was devastating… you just feel helpless.”
The minister also said he was still struggling to come to terms with what happened and expressed sympathy for the family, while committing to assist with the repatriation of the deceased for burial in Zimbabwe.
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Source: AFP
