Nkayi road strikes again
Siyabonga Moyo
NKAYI-Passengers in a Godlwayo bus that was travelling along the notorious Nkayi-Bulawayo road survived death by a whisker when the bus veered off the road and and almost overturned.
Sources at the scene said the right front springs gave in and the right wheel of the bus burst due to the body leaning heavily on the wheel.
A passenger in the bus, Siboneni Nyathi, confirmed that the bus veered off the road just after Inyathi and attributed this to the bad state of the road as well as overloading.
“We were fortunate that the driver managed to bring the bus to an abrupt halt and that people came out unscathed. This should be a reminder to our authorities that these roads are are a recipe for major accidents,” said Ndlovu.
Lately the Nkayi-Bulawayo road has become a regular accident scene, the most notable being the one that involved a Nkayi Hospital ambulance earlier this year which claimed the life of a pregnant woman.
Another passenger also noted with concern that the bus companies are suffering maintenance losses due the dillapidated road. He warned that bus companies might be forced to stop plying the route which could further worsen the transport woes in Nkayi.
” If this keeps happening, these bus companies might end up abandoning these routes and this will leave us at the mercy of unregistered transporters who charge exhorbitant prices.
Nkayi road has been a burning issue for years without drawing any serious response from the authorities. Residents have to endure 5 hours to travel only 158 kilometres from Nkayi to Bulawayo because the road is littered with endless crater-like potholes.
