Driver in fatal taxi accident‚ depicting sadness in the dock‚ abandons bail bid

The driver of a minibus taxi which crashed into a bus‚ killing five children‚ in a back-to-school crash‚ has abandoned his bid for bail.

Mondli Zisongo‚ 29‚ appeared briefly in the Ntuzuma Magistrates Court on Wednesday on culpable homicide charges.

Supplied

Six people have been killed and several injured after a bus collided with a minibus taxi in Ntuzuma‚ north of Durban on Wednesday morning. Picture: Supplied

He was behind the wheel of a taxi transporting children to school on the opening day of term on January 11.

Four children died at the scene and a fifth‚ a teenage boy‚ succumbed to his injuries in hospital several days later.

• Impromptu prayer service held at scene of crash that killed 4 school childrenShards of glasses‚ school bags‚ newly covered books‚ wheel brake shoes‚ blood and accident debris on the corner of Ngcebo and Mbondwe roads of F Section in Ntuzuma painted a stark picture of the tragic start to the school year for four pupils and their families on Wednesday.

Zisongo cut a disconsolate figure‚ sitting huddled in the concrete stairwell before he was called to the dock.

No reasons were given for the decision to abandon bail‚ and Zisongo will be remanded in police custody.

State Prosecutor Naushaad Harripersadh confirmed that a fifth count of culpable homicide had been added to the charge sheet.

Taxi driver Mondli Zinsongo huddles in the stairwell at Ntuzuma Magistrates Court on Wednesday. He is accused of killing five children in a crash two weeks ago. Picture Jeff Wicks

In the wake of the crash‚ Zisongo had to be guarded by heavily armed police as an irate group of community members swelled around him. But it is unclear whether this is among the reasons for him abandoning his bail bid.

The accident brought the issue of safe scholar transport into sharp focus. Earlier today‚ more than a dozen school children were injured when a minibus taxi overturned on Old Main Road in Isipingo.