No charges have been brought against anyone in connection with the bus accident on Sunday in KwaZulu-Natal in which 12 people died, said a Pietermaritzburg prosecutor on Wednesday.
Senior prosecutor Morris Alexander of the Pietermaritzburg magistrate's court said neither the driver nor anyone else had appeared in court in connection with charges arising out of the incident and the case was not on the court roll.
The driver did not appear on drunk driving charges either.
"He did not appear at all in court," said Alexander.
He said the crash was still being investigated, with statements to be taken from mechanical engineers and bus passengers.
"Obviously it needs quite a lot of investigation."
Driver 'not at fault'
Alexander said once the investigation was completed, a decision would be made on whether anybody should face charges.
The SA Roadlink bus crashed at about 05:00 on Sunday on the southbound N3 while travelling from Harrismith in the Free State to Durban in KZN. Twelve people, including three children, died and 30 were injured when it overturned and hit a bridge.
Earlier on Wednesday, Roadlink denied that the driver had been at fault and said a tyre had burst. Roadlink said the driver had been cleared of drunk driving by the police.
Superintendent Joshua Gwala of the Midlands police confirmed that the driver had been tested for alcohol at the scene but would not comment on the results, saying that was part of the investigation.
Roadlink confirmed that the driver had previously been convicted of drunk driving while driving a Roadlink bus.
That incident, in which the driver was found to have been seven times over the legal limit for a driver with a public driver's permit (PDP), took place in KZN almost exactly a year before Sunday's accident, on December 23 2005. The driver was suspended for a year and later reinstated after he was checked out by the company.
Steyn confirmed that two other Roadlink buses were taken off the road on Sunday in KZN by traffic authorities for being unroadworthy. He said they were fixed, taken to testing stations on Wednesday and were back on the road.
"We don't operate unroadworthy vehicles, we will never do that."
- SAPA
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