Overview
- A preliminary RTMC report confirms 43 fatalities, 34 serious injuries and six slight injuries, with eight occupants recorded leaving the scene without treatment.
- The 62‑seater coach carried 91 people, including 11 young children counted under Regulation 231, amounting to an overload of 23 passengers; the trailer was packed with baggage.
- Mechanical checks found only five of ten brakes working, none operational on the trailer and a poorly repaired trailer suspension, leaving the vehicle unroadworthy as it descended at a speed too high for the conditions.
- Investigators ruled out weather, road surface and markings as contributing factors on the N1 mountain pass near Makhado.
- Minister Barbara Creecy directed the RTMC to seek maintenance and service records, probe the issuing roadworthy certificate with the Anti-Corruption Unit, inspect the DNC Coach fleet at border posts and consider a culpable homicide complaint, with a final technical reconstruction due in about 21 weeks.