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'i could have been in ill-fated car'

DEADLY DRASH: One of the cars involved in the accident scene, and, right, Busisiwe Qwabe, the last person to see the four young men. Pic. Lucky Nxumalo and Netcare. 30/06/08. © Netcare/Sowetan.
DEADLY DRASH: One of the cars involved in the accident scene, and, right, Busisiwe Qwabe, the last person to see the four young men. Pic. Lucky Nxumalo and Netcare. 30/06/08. © Netcare/Sowetan.

Sibongile Mashaba

Sibongile Mashaba

The driver of the car that caused the horrific accident on the M1 south in which nine people were killed, including a two-year-old boy, was allegedly drunk.

It has also emerged that the woman fighting for her life in hospital after being seriously injured in the accident is the toddler's mother.

She could also be the owner of a Metro police pocket notebook found in the car in which she was a passenger.

"I can confirm that the notebook belongs to a Metro policewoman," Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar of the Johannesburg Metro Police Department said.

It has also emerged that the ill-fated Toyota Corolla was not hijacked.

"The people had been drinking and I think they panicked when they saw the police," said a woman who had earlier been with the occupants of the car.

Busisiwe Qwabe, 19, said she was the last person to see and speak to the four young men before they left in the Toyota.

"I don't know how and where they picked up the woman and child. She was not with them when they left. I don't know her," she said.

She said she knew Tumi Lekalake, 22, who was a passenger in the Toyota. She did not know the other people.

Qwabe said she, her friend, Lekalake and two of his friends were at the News Cafe at Maponya Mall in Klipspruit, Soweto.

"I could have been inside that car. Me and my friend refused to go with Tumi and his other friends because I did not know them.

"The guy who was driving was rude and told me and my friend that we were boring because we did not want to go with them."

Sowetan has been able to identify only two of the nine who died. The other person is Katlego Ramogale, 21, who was the driver of the Renault Clio in which five people died.

Lekalake's father, Kgantsho, said he had had a talk with his son on Friday.

"I told him that he should let me know when he was not going to return home from partying. I also told him that he was young and I would not let him go to parties every weekend.

"I just came back from the mortuary to identify him. I saw the other people who also died in the accident, but I don't know any of them."

Katlego was driving his father's Clio and was returning from work at a call centre with friends. They had a lift club and he was going to drop them off before going home.

His uncle, Jackie Motshegwa, said: "We are still trying to accept that he is dead. He was a humble person and always smiling."

The family identified Ramogale on Monday.

His legs were amputated at the knees and his skull was cracked open.

The Toyota was spotted by police parked at a garage in Turffontein in southern Johannesburg.

Police became suspicious of the car and when they approached it the driver sped off.

A car chase ensued and the Toyota went into the M1 south, where the driver made a deadly U-turn, facing oncoming traffic, and collided head-on with the Clio.

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