For immediate release

Dated: 16 October 2022

MAYA received the news of the Nyanga School bus accident disaster near the Pine Inn Tree Inn on Friday 14/10/2022  with shock and absolute dismay that another accident has robbed us of the future. The accident accounted for 6 very young lives and injuring 39 others from Tynwald High School in Harare who were on a school trip to Nyanga. We take a bow for the young angels who passed on and share our heartfelt grief. In particular, we pass our condolences to the affected families and Tynwald School community. Our thoughts are with following families, Hoves who lost Anenyasha, for the Guyos their Beyonce was stolen,  Manyukas, robbed of Anita, Dzivas, had Destiny taken away, the Tarisais, had Kimberley snatched away and the Madanhires had Craig pickpocketed just like that and left clutching nothing but a handful of dust. May the souls of the children rest in peace. We pray for the injured to heal both physically and psychologically from the effects and trauma of the accident. As the nation grieves, it is also a time to remind each other that this accident that has once again plunged the nation into mourning was man made. It was very much avoidable. According to a police statement, the bus was over-speeding along the meandering Nyanga road at night. The earlier report that a front wheel came off is clearly a false narrative since from the available pictures with the bus lying on its roof, the wheels are all intact. So, it was over-speeding and its not rocket science that over-speeding is plain human error which can easily be avoided. Secondly, it boggles the mind why the organizers of the trip decided to travel late rather than during day light. Indeed, no one plans for an accident, nobody plans for death however, by an act of omission or commission, the outcome can be disastrous as in this case. Six young lives were terminated, 39 others injured, millions in pain and grieving because someone decided and approved the deathly travel plan.According to World Health rankings on road traffic accidents statistics, Zimbabwe has the worst record in the region, if not the developing world in terms of road traffic induced mortalities with a death record of 64 percent second only to the Dominican Republic which has a higher rate of 67%.At least five people reportedly die daily due to road traffic accidents in Zimbabwe. This translates to at least 1825 deaths per year. From the figures, 77 percent of road crash induced fatalities and injuries happen to be in the economically active and productive age groups 15 to 64 years. In the same vain, this translates to 1044 life years affected due to disabilities from road accidents crash injuries per 100000,00 people. Further estimates by the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe show that by 2018, country lost about 406 million dollars annually from 40000 road accidents. Its very costly both in terms of lives and economics.The high traffic accident mortalities dogging Zimbabwe can be ascribed to a number of variables which are primarily the state of the road infrastructure which is generally bad. When we add risky diving attitudes exhibited on our roads raises the stakes even higher.. The other factor is the health delivery system which is in diastraits. Reports that the receiving hospital (Nyanga District) lack basic critical services such as x-rays and other diagnostic services which forced concerned parents and guardians to evacuate their injured loved ones using personal non specialized transport from the hospital to Harare is a cause for concern. These are some of the issues that increase the mortality rate in Zimbabwe. No wonder why, road traffic accidents are the fifth highest cause of deaths in Zimbabwe after HIV/AIDS, Coronary heart disease, stroke and pneumonia.In concluding, the following recommendations are proffered in order to reverse this carnage. There is need to invest seriously in roads infrastructure to improve the condition the roads are in. This is not just a government responsibility but all stakeholders including business can support the cause in various ways such as Public Private partnership agreements and funding. School trips should always be done during the day.. In order to meet the second decade of action on road safety 2020 to 2030, Zimbabwe should strengthen and reinforce the road safety framework through robust enforcement institutions such as ZRP and even ZACC to deal with endemic corruption. There is a great need to resuscitate the public health care system to mitigate the high death rate. Many people who have died did not deserve to die at all only if the emergency care services was operating at optimal levels. The Traffic Safety Council and all stakeholders including Civil society must roll out road safety education to citizens. Lastly as road users, there is need to address attitudes, because 90 percent of traffic accidents are somehow as a result of attitude, be it speeding, drunk driving, disrespecting fellow road users or poor travel plans.

It boils down to Human error which can be corrected and WE CAN as a Nation correct it.

Leave a comment