RIP, OUR ANGELS

The devastated parents, teachers and friends of five children killed in a horrific accident are still in shock

- JACQUES MYBURGH

HE WILL forever be haunted by the image of the young children being dragged under a truck until it came to a stop.

Taxi driver Sipho Nomcoyiya had parked his minibus taxi outside Vyfhoek Primary School near Potchefstroom and was waiting for the school kids’ day to finish so he could ferry them home.

At 2pm the bell rang and the sound of the learners’ laughter and chatter filled the air as they filtered out of school.

Minutes later, as Sipho was talking to another driver, they heard a loud bang. It sounded like a gunshot.

“I turned and I saw the truck driving over the traffic island. It was headed straight for the school. One of the teachers tried to shove some of the kids out of the way, but the truck hit the children who were lined up in front of the school.

“I saw how the children landed up under the truck. It just kept going with the kids underneath it. The truck dragged them along until it came to a stop on the school grounds.”

Sipho clears his throat and shakes his head, as if trying to rid himself of the memory of that Thursday afternoon, 18 August.

Five pupils died that day – Tebogo Reamogetse Motsemme (12), Thendo Noxolo Lewane (9), Christina Lerato Mashai (9), Oreneiloe Seroalo (8) and Mahlohonolo Palesa Thekiso (6).

Four other pupils were hospitalised and one of them has been discharged.

“There were screams,” Sipho says. “Children were crying – I’ll never forget the crying.”

He had to take some of the badly traumatised children home.