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A supervisor of the bus driver who was brutally killed on Tuesday morning says he is heartbroken after he could not save Neho Motaung, who burned to death in front of him.
France Odendaal, from Stabus, the company Motaung worked for, arrived at the scene of the incident in Lawley, south of Johannesburg, a few minutes after Motaung was shot and set alight by one of the three men who stormed the bus.
When Odendaal arrived at the scene, Motaung was still alive but he was already on fire after he was doused with petrol and set alight.
"I arrived just minutes after the incident had happened and noticed that Neho was still alive. He was moving as if he was trying to get out [of the burning bus] but he was weak to do that. I tried to rescue him but the flames had engulfed the bus and smoke was too strong," an emotional Odendaal told Sowetan yesterday.
"I cried and called Neho's name so that he could hear that I came to save him.
"At that stage I knew there was nothing I could do even though I wanted to do it. I felt overpowered by the smoke and my pants and shirt caught fire. The commuters and people who were there then pulled me away from the burning bus and I sat on the ground and watched him burn to ashes with the bus in front of me."
Odendaal said what pains him the most was that police officers that were about 300 metres away from the scene did nothing to assist.
"The police station is just inside the Lawley railway station and they did not come. I ended up calling police from Lenasia, who arrived later," he said.
Provincial police spokesperson Capt Kay Makhubele told Sowetan yesterday that he would check the allegations. Makhubele added that no arrests had been made, but investigations were under way.
"I'm hurting because Neho was like my older brother. He was more than a colleague to me. I'm heartbroken by the way he perished before my eyes. I will never forget that experience," said Odendaal, who will undergo counselling for the trauma he went through.
A senior driver at Stabus, Tsietsi Sekleone, who has been working with the deceased since 2008, described Motaung as "a very humble man who could hardly be seen angry".
"What happened to him has angered us as drivers. It was very inhumane and barbaric to kill such an innocent man. He was doing his job and not fighting any one," he said.
Oupa Mokonyane said they would carry on with their work as drivers regardless of the situation in the area.
"This morning [yesterday] when I went to collect my bus I passed by the rank where a group of taxi drivers laughed at me. I was very disturbed," he said.
Mokonyane said drivers were pleading with the government and the ministry of transport to take serious action against the brutality and violence of taxi drivers. "We are innocently being killed for being bus drivers and it's not fair because the government has been very quiet," he said.
The killing of Motaung is believed to have been as a result of a turf war between taxis and buses over train commuters who have been stranded since lockdown began.
But police are not speculating at the moment about who might be behind Motaung's killing.
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