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Livestock owners must pay for traffic accidents

The deaths of 19 people in two bus accidents along the Tshikuwi-Rabali road at Luvhalani village outside Makhado in Limpopo last week was horrific.

The deaths of 19 people in two bus accidents along the Tshikuwi-Rabali road at Luvhalani village outside Makhado in Limpopo last week was horrific.

When I visited the accident scene, I was touched by the grief of relatives and friends of the people who were killed, and the 50 survivors. My grief was aggravated by the death of a donkey that caused the accident.

I watched community leaders, pupils and residents staring at the wreck of the buses with broken hearts .

Who owns the animals that roam our roads and claim countless lives? The community knows who these people are, but they choose to remain silent .

Livestock owners should not be protected. They must be held accountable for their animals. They must repair the damaged vehicles or buy new ones if these are beyond repair, pay the medical bills of the injured and also compensate the dependents of the dead. These people will only begin to look after their animals if such action is enforced.

The irony is that some stock owners do not look after their animals, but they continue complaining about stock theft. They forget they are to blame because they do not look after their animals.

I urge all road users to be extremely cautious when driving at night and to be on the look out for stray animals.

Supt. Mohale Ramatseba, Limpopo

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