Few can forget the horror scene of the bus accident that left 14 people, including a three-year-old girl, dead near the notorious Witvlag turnoff on the N1 north in July this year. Now, almost four months later, the bus driver has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment or a R20 000 fine.

The 53-year-old bus driver, Peter Ndlovu, appeared in the Louis Trichardt District Court last Monday on a charge of culpable homicide. He was driving the Trans-Africa Lux bus that was transporting Zimbabwean passengers from Bulawayo to Johannesburg.

According to police reports and survivors, the bus was going very fast and Ndlovu did not have time to respond to passengers’ frantic calls before the bus skidded off the road and crashed through the safety rail, rolling down the embankment. The bus’s entire roof was ripped off as a result of the impact.

In addition to the 14 fatalities, 48 passengers were taken to the Louis Trichardt Memorial Hospital for treatment. Nine of them were critically injured.

Ndlovu was found guilty of culpable homicide. Apart from his two year prison sentence or R20 000 fine, his driver's license was also suspended for a period of three years.