A taxi driver was arrested for allegedly transporting 40 school children in a minibus with a seating capacity of 14 yesterday afternoon, 22 October 2015.
Mpumolelo Nomoyi, 34, appeared in the Patensie court today. The case was remanded for further investigation on 24 November this year. Nomoyi was released on R200 bail.
This is the second known incident of overloading a taxi with school children to have occurred in the Patensie area this year .
Traffic officers from Kouga Municipality yesterday pulled the driver off the road at Patensie. The minibus travelled from Quagga Primary School before it was stopped on the R331 near Patensie.
Nomoyi from Port Elizabeth, was taken to the Patensie SAP office where he was charged for overloading his vehicle, not having a driver’s licence, transporting school children at a fee without having an operating licence and in a vehicle that does not comply with the necessary safety requirements (there was no fire extinguisher).
On 5 August this year 50 school children were squashed into a taxi by a reckless driver who drove at high speed in Patensie. The driver, Bruintjies, was fined R5000.
He was given the option to pay the fine or spend six months in prison. According to warrant officer Gerda Swart of the SAP Uitenhage cluster, Bruintjies chose to pay the fine.
Hyron Bruintjies, 21, was spotted by an alert station commander of the Patensie detective branch, Lt Loaan Steenkamp, who noticed the reckless driving of a white Toyota Quantum at high speed with children in it. When the taxi was pulled over 50 schoolkids from the ages of 6-12 years got out of the vehicle.
Bruintjies first appeared in the Hankey Magistrate’s Court on 6 August.
Humansdorp Cluster Commander, Brigadier Neil Jantjies, praised the officer and said the SAP will ensure it delivers on its mandate to enable citizens of this country to live in a safe and secure environment, especially the women and children.”
Article written by Bev Mortimer
St Francis Chronicle 