At least 17 in hospital after taxi hits tavern

At least 17 people were hospitalised after a taxi crashed into a pillar of a building in Orange Grove‚ Johannesburg‚ on Wednesday morning.

According to the driver of the taxi that was hit from the back‚ Ncube Qhubeka‚ 29‚ the taxi that hit the building’s veranda was speeding.

In his version‚ the taxi that hit the veranda’s pillar first hit his taxi from the back‚ then ended up crashing into one of the pillars. The pillar then collapsed.

"It was around 7.05am in the morning‚ from Alexandra to Johannesburg CBD‚ that’s my usual route. Traffic was flowing at that moment and I was concentrating on driving the next thing I heard a crash sound from the back and within seconds from the mirror I saw the taxi hitting the wall. When I looked on the mirror I saw a wall [veranda] falling. The taxi hit the pillar‚” said Qhubeka.

“I don’t know what to say. It looks like he was speeding and tried to overtake. I was driving in front his taxi. I don't know what to say. My heart is broken because I had a right of way‚” he said.

Qhubeka‚ who constantly smoked a cigarette‚ said that he had gone to bed on time the previous night and was certain he was not tired in the morning.

“I woke up around 4am in the morning. I slept at around 8pm last night; I was not tired in the morning. I really don't know what to say. The other driver is hospitalised as we speak. I'm not hurt (physically) because he hit my taxi from the back‚” Qhubeka said.

Mduduzi Khumalo‚ 35‚ who was one of the people who were inside the building‚ which houses a tavern‚ said that he had helped one of the commuters‚ who was bleeding.

“I was inside the building [tavern] when I heard sounds of a car crash. We came out and found people were screaming and taxis had collided. The noise was so loud that I thought a truck hit another came. No one in the building was injured. I helped a girl who was bleeding on the right leg‚ she couldn't do anything and I took her close to the ambulance. She was bleeding‚ most people were‚” said Khumalo.

Elliot Tshivasa‚ Norwood police spokesperson‚ said that one commuter was taken to Charlotte Maxeke hospital.

“The driver and others were taken to Busa Med Clinic‚” he said.

Louise Botha Avenue is still heavily backed up with traffic.