Two weeks ago, commuters who were travelling in a GM Phadziri Bus from work in Louis Trichardt to the Kutama area received the shock of their lives, when the moving bus suddenly started to burn. Several of the passengers jumped from the bus to escape possible serious injuries.

Some of the passengers even jumped through the windows to escape the mysterious fire.

Last Friday, a driver had to jump out of a moving bus from the same bus service after it suddenly started to burn, while he was driving. He was alone in the bus when the incident occured.

The sudden fires in the buses comes at a time when commuters in the area are staging several protests against the bus company, saying that the buses are not roadworthy. One of the commuters, Mbulaheni Mukumedzi, said that they didn’t want the buses to transport them, because they arrived late at work or at home every day. “The Phadziri buses are not roadworthy and traffic officers in the area are not doing anything," he said

The protest against the bus service had attracted the attention of the provincial Head of the Department of Transport, Mr Tau Letebele, members from the Legislature, as well as representatives from the Makhado Municipality. They held meetings with the management of the bus company, as well as the commuters, in an attempt to resolve the matter. Phadziri is the only bus company operating in the area.

Commuters say they want government to provide them with proper means of transport in the area.

Last month, 47 passengers were injured in an Phadziri bus accident, that was allegedly due to failure of the braking system. The incident took place at Mpofu Village in the Nthabalala area.

The manager of the Phadziri company, Mr Tshikume Phadziri, said they did not know what the reason for the fires was, but they suspected electrical faults. They are waiting for the investigators to report back on the cause of the fire. "We will report back after we get the formal report from the investigators," he added.

When Mirror contacted the spokesperson for the Department of Transport, Mr Calies Matlala, he said he could not comment on the issue, "because they are on strike."