Pongola Schoolchildren Crash: Driver Sentenced to 20 Years Behind Bars

• The truck driver who crashed into a bakkie carrying 18 children and two adults in Pongola has been sentenced to 20 years in jail
• Sibusiso Siyaya was found guilty of 20 counts of murder, reckless and negligent driving, as well as fleeing the accident scene
• The NPA said since the court considered the murder counts as a single act, Siyaya was sentenced to 14 years for murder

Zingisa Chirwa is an experienced Briefly News journalist based in Johannesburg, South Africa, who has covered current affairs on the radio for over 15 years.

The truck driver who crashed into a bakkie full of schoolchildren in Pongola, KwaZulu-Natal, has been sentenced to 20 years behind bars.

Truck driver handed 20 years for bakkie crash

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The KwaZulu-Natal High Court sitting in Pongola handed Sibusiso Siyaya his sentence on 16 May 2024.

According to The Citizen, Siyaya was transporting coal from Mpumalanga to the Richards Bay coal terminal in KZN when he crashed into the bakkie on the N2.

Dashcam footage, which captured the 2022 accident, showed Siyaya's truck overtaking another truck on a double barrier line before ramming into a bakkie occupied by 18 children and two adults. A Road Traffic Management Corporation report found that Siyaya overtook several vehicles on stretches of road where it is prohibited and drove into oncoming traffic for 1.2 km.

The court views 20 murder counts as one act

The NPA’s Natasha Ramkisson-Kara told Algoa FM that since the court considered the murder counts as a single act, Siyaya was sentenced to 14 years for murder, three years for reckless and negligent driving, and six years for the failure to perform the duties of a driver after an accident.

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Source: Briefly News